Wills Wing
Flytec

Oz Report

topic: George Ferris (87 articles)

At the lake or in the lake?

January 26, 2018, 6:06:07 pm EST

At the lake or in the lake?

The proper approach to landing next to the lake

Facebook|George Ferris|video

Thanks to George Ferris.

Here is a landing that wasn't quite right: https://www.facebook.com/aaron.johnson.5011/videos/10204349820941165/

Discuss "At the lake or in the lake?" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Wellfleet

November 23, 2017, 8:02:42 PST

Wellfleet

Cape Cod

George Ferris|PG

George Ferris <<highmartinwing>> writes:

This article is about the history, the beginning of glider soaring in the USA that started in 1928 in Wellfleet on Cape Cod. How the people involved back then are linked together with the Pilgrims in the year 1620, the first Thanksgiving in the year 1621, the German Luftwaffe in 1928, JC Penney of the JC Penney retail stores in 1928, the Seascape in North Truro, and Dave and Lori Sexton present owners of Cooks Camps in Wellfleet which is a stones throw from the hang and paraglider launch that exist in Wellfleet to this day.

http://martinwing.com/myarticlepage.html

Discuss "Wellfleet" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Corn Hill

November 27, 2015, 7:52:57 PST

Corn Hill

Early immigrant story

George Ferris|record|Wright Brothers

1) The answer is a true fact

2) In 1928 German glider pilot Peter Hesselbach broke the Wright Brothers duration record.

This is the hill where the corn was stolen by the pilgrims and planted the following year . To make restitution to the local Indians they held a large feast that we now celebrate as thanksgiving. In the early 70s some of the first soaring flights began here at corn hill and pilots flew here until 2013 when the last launch ( house lot) at corn hill was developed.

Thanks to George Ferris.

Discuss "Corn Hill" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Sky Sports HGMA testing crew

November 7, 2014, 9:48:50 PST

Sky Sports HGMA testing crew

1970's

George Ferris

George Ferris <<glferris>> writes:

I finally found this photo after many years of searching. The Sky Sports HGMA testing crew back in the 70s.

Discuss "Sky Sports HGMA testing crew" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Birds gone Wild

September 4, 2013, 9:57:03 MDT

Birds gone Wild

Vultures launching

George Ferris|video|wildlife|wildlife

George Ferris <<glferris>> writes:

Enjoy this video I took years ago. There is some cool launching technique of vultures in the video: http://youtu.be/d2mVBEV9rHI

Discuss "Birds gone Wild" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Martin wings

July 25, 2013, 7:31:58 CDT

Martin wings

George Ferris and his foam glider

George Ferris|video

http://www.martinwing.net/

If you enjoy RC Glider flying but don't want the worry about huge experience, weeks or months of building or down time for repairs our Martin Wing is for you. Other than the elevons (control surfaces) the Martin is constructed of foam. It arrives as two wing halves that are easily glued together and the cutouts, that are necessary for electronics etc, are already done for you.

The Martin is built so that even if it falls out of a 60 foot tree it would simply take a piece of tape to ready it for flying again. Thanks to Doug Martin we have a wing that will ridge soar in the lightest conditions, out thermal, out glide, out sink any other foam wing and if that doesn't matter to you just have fun.

http://www.martinwing.net/videos.html

http://youtu.be/qZJ_S1elfNc

Discuss "Martin wings" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Cape Cod Halloween Fly In

August 16, 2012, 7:54:57 MDT

Cape Cod Halloween Fly In

The web site

George Ferris|video

George Ferris <<glferris>> writes:

http://www.seascapemotorinn.com and select Press (as in news press and articles).

Discuss "Cape Cod Halloween Fly In" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Cape Cod Halloween Fly In

August 14, 2012, 6:53:47 MDT

Cape Cod Halloween Fly In

Your invitation

George Ferris

George Ferris <<glferris>> writes:

The date for this year's Cape Cod Halloween Flyin will be October 20th - 27th. Hope to see everyone there that I know and miss. For more info go to <seascape> and select.

Discuss "Cape Cod Halloween Fly In" at the Oz Report forum   link»

George Ferris, where are you? »

October 9, 2008, 8:42:57 MDT

George Ferris, where are you?

Is this where?

George Ferris

Discuss George Ferris, where are you? at the Oz Report forum   link»

George Ferris⁣ gets his record »

Mon, Nov 5 2007, 9:42:30 am PST

Record

The new out and return record

George Ferris|record

https://OzReport.com/11.33

https://OzReport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8585&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=40

Discuss "George Ferris⁣ gets his record" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

More Thanks

Tue, Feb 18 2003, 9:00:00 pm GMT

Alex Pryymak|André Wolf|Bob Anderson|Bob Hastings|Chris Cioffi|Claude Montpetit|Cult of 47|Dan Bereczki|Dudley Mead|Enrico Lucarelli|Gakuta Toba|Geoffrey Robertson|Geoffrey Rutledge|George Ferris|Gregg Ludwig|Hansjoerg Truttmann|Harald Steen|Harry Sudwischer|Henry Bittner|James Gaar|James Yocom|John Olsen|John Rankin|Keishya Salko|Len Szafaryn|Mark Childs|Mark DeMarino|Mark Dowsett|Michael Dufty|Quest Air|Richard Nikoley|Rick Wilson|Rob Kells|Russell "Russ" Brown|Scott Westfall|Sotos Christoforou|Steve Kroop|Thomas Blon|Tyson Richmond|William Gargano

More great positive responses from Oz Report readers.

Thanks to the following readers who wanted to help out and sent in $10 on Tuesday: Rick Wilson ($20), Russ Brown, John Rankin, Enrico Lucarelli (Spain), Geoffrey Robertson, John Olsen (pledge), Mark Childs, Rob Kells (Wills Wing), George Ferris ($40), Mark Dowsett (Canada), Chris Cioffi, Alex Pryymak, William Gargano, Bob Anderson, Hansjoerg Truttmann (pledge and Switzerland), Richard Nikoley ($20), Thomas Blon (snail mail and Germany), Harald Steen (Norway), Bob Hastings and Keishya Salko (snail mail), Len Szafaryn, Henry Bittner ($20), James Yocom, Tyson Richmond, Quest Air ($40), Geoffrey Rutledge (he often doesn’t agree with me, but he reads the Oz Report – perfect), Gregg A Ludwig, Cult of 47, James Gaar (AirSports Flight Park), Dudley Mead ($20), Harry Sudwischer ($15), Scott Westfall, Michael Dufty (Australia). André Wolf (pledge of a good donation, and he says, “I truly think that the Oz Report is the best media that hang gliding ever had…”, Brazil), Steve Kroop (if I can get him subscribed this time – did it a minute ago), Mark DeMarino, Dan Bereczki (“Even though you regularly slag/ignore Texas pilots, you're providing an excellent service to soaring pilots all over the world.”), Claude Montpetit (Canada – paraglider pilot), Gakuta Toba

Thanks so much to all of you who support the Oz Report and continue to do so.

Sotos Christoforou <sotos@christoforou.com> reminds me regarding his PayPal problem:

If any one is interested to find a solution for this problem then is better to correct the name of the island that is Cyprus and not Crete. Crete is an island of Greece that is already listed in Pay Pal, Cyprus is an island and most of people hves Greek nationality but it is independent and not listed in Pay Pal.

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.

Discuss "More Thanks" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Cheap Cars in Oz

Thu, Oct 3 2002, 5:00:02 pm GMT

Billy Vaughn|George Ferris|Martyn Yeomans|Vic Hare

Martyn Yeomans <myeomans@hortons.com.au> writes:

In Vol 6 No 190 you suggested:

"One, buy one in some west of the Blue Mountains country town after you take the train away from Sydney. Get a Ute. Sell it back later. Drive back to Sydney to pick up your glider.“

While you would probably save a few dollars doing this, the downside is: time taken to travel west of the Blue Mountains - about 2-3 hours each way plus the small number of car dealers/stock in non-Metro areas (that is, it might be hard to find what you're looking for).

Another solution for those wishing to buy a car (not a total wreck but a 'cheapie') is to visit Sydney's well known Parramatta Road - about 25 miles/40 kms of almost "wall to wall" car dealerships extending from the edge of the CBD to the major urban hub of Parramatta to the west. By my rough scan of the Yellow Pages phone directory, there are over 100 used car dealers alone, specialising in everything from prestige sports cars, to vans, to 4WD's to "under $5,000 bargains".

Just this week I called into to a few of these, and those listed below were all keen to "do deals" to help visiting pilots get into a Holden (GM) Commodore station wagon; Ford Falcon wagon or Mitsubishi Magna (predecessor of the 'Diamante') wagon.

For those who haven't been to Oz before, the Commodore is a 3.8 litre V6 and the Ford a 4-litre straight six. The Magna is a 2.6 litre 4-cyl. The Commodore and Falcon would comfortably take 3-4 people and 3, maybe 4 gliders - depending on the racks. The Magna would be better for 2-3 people and 2-3 gliders. The Ford and Commodore are most popular as cheapies because they're rugged and easy to repair practically anywhere in Australia. For a given amount of money, the Magna will probably be a bit younger and in slightly better condition.

For a reasonable vehicle around 10-12 years old, you'll see a "list price" of between $4,500 and $6,000. The first thing to realise is that all dealers will immediately take 10% to 20% off the price if you're offering cash. The next thing is they all said they would offer a "buy back deal" - typically (subject mainly to damage) they said they would pay about 50% to 60% of the original purchase price. So if you pay say, $4900 between 3 and get back $2500 after 3 months, it's cost $800 each (net) or A$266 a month.

Here’s a few names and phone nos. They were all quite happy for you to ring a week or so in advance and they could either hold a vehicle for you ( for a small deposit) or source something if they didn't have what you wanted in stock. Most of these guys are small time dealers - some only stock 20-25 cars at a time, so I've listed them in order of size:

STEVEN DON MOTORS (John) 636 Parramatta Rd Croydon 61-2-9799 6055
TRUSTED CARS (Vic Batten) 122 Parramatta Rd Croydon 61-2-9745 1224
PAYLESS AUTOS (Joseph) 434 Parramatta Rd Burwood 61-2-9745 3888
CHAMA MOTORS (Ferris) 422 Parramatta Rd Burwood 61-2-9744 8852
NGOC MOTORS (Billy) 428 Parramatta Rd Burwood 61-2-9745 2288

On the train heading west from Sydney's "Central Station", Croydon and Burwood are the 9th and 10th stops, and it would take around 30 minutes to get there. Parramatta Road is about a 10 minute walk (or a real short taxi ride) from the stations. One final thing "Roof Rack City" is located at 47 Parramatta Road Haberfield, about 10 minutes drive back towards the city after you pick up your car (61-2-9716 6077).

Discuss "Cheap Cars in Oz" at the Oz Report forum   link»

The AIR ATOS V-tails have arrived!

Thu, Sep 19 2002, 12:00:00 pm EDT

George Ferris|Johann Posch|USHGA

After heroic work by George Ferris (and help from the AIR office) the ATOS v-tails have escaped customs in Houstonand arrived here in Minden(after a stop to see George). Tom Vayda is letting Johann Posch have his to take to Australia and two more v-tails are coming later to Johann to go to Tom and Mike Daily – who purchased Johann’s other ATOS-C (he had two).

The new v-tails are beautiful (see OzReport.com/Ozv6n137.htm) and so well made. Rob Gleason and I will be packing up the v-tails and the gliders on Friday to be sent to Australia. It’s early, but that’s how the timing is working out. We will be leaving for Australiaearly, October 16th, and unfortunately miss the USHGA BOD meeting in Orlando.

Nose up, then a spin?

Fri, Aug 30 2002, 1:00:05 pm EDT

George Ferris|Rick Mullins

George Ferris|John "Ole" Olson|Rick Mullins

(?-i)John "Ole" Olson|George Ferris|Rick Mullins

George Ferris|Rick Mullins

Rick Mullins «flyndude» writes:

Got an interesting response from Steve Morris:

If your friend was doing the typical HGMA roll-reversal maneuver, it is common for the nose to balloon up while the wings pass through level. The maneuver normally starts with the glider trimmed in a 45 deg bank 360 and then the pilot rapidly reverses the bank angle. When 360'ing the glider is trimmed in a high lift condition (in order to generate the extra lift needed to accelerate the wing along a circular path) and this lift must be 'dumped' when the wings are level or you'll start climbing. We would see this all the time when testing Swifts and Millenniums for roll response.

The fact that the glider spun while doing this is a whole other issue and I'll leave that one for Felix to explain. I'm glad your friend recovered.

Rick also wrote:

I've had my ATOS for about a year and I've never had any hint of a spin, but I'm trimmed a little fast and I have my stall warning set at 20. Plenty of airspeed is always on my mind. After I bought your Exxtacy, George Ferris had cautioned me about the tendency to "balloon" when coming out of a turn.

US Open – the evaluation »

Tue, Aug 13 2002, 5:00:01 pm EDT

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Christian Ciech|Florida|George Ferris|Gordon Rigg|Jim Lee|Mike Degtoff|record|Rhett Radford|Rich Burton|sailplane|US Open|Worlds

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|cart|Christian Ciech|Florida|George Ferris|Gordon Rigg|Jim Lee|Mike Degtoff|record|Rhett Radford|Rich Burton|sailplane|US Open|Worlds

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|cart|Christian Ciech|Chris Zimmerman|Florida|George Ferris|Gordon Rigg|Jim Lee|Mike Degtoff|record|Rhett Radford|Rich Burton|sailplane|US Open|Worlds

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Campbell Bowen|cart|Christian Ciech|Chris Zimmerman|Florida|George Ferris|Gordon Rigg|Jim Lee|Mike Degtoff|record|Rhett Radford|Rich Burton|sailplane|US Open|Worlds

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Campbell Bowen|cart|Christian Ciech|Chris Zimmerman|Florida|George Ferris|Gordon Rigg|Jim Lee|Mike Degtoff|Oleg Bondarchuk|record|Rhett Radford|Rich Burton|sailplane|US Open|Worlds

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Campbell Bowen|cart|Christian Ciech|Chris Zimmerman|Florida|George Ferris|Gordon Rigg|Jim Lee|Mike Degtoff|Oleg Bondarchuk|record|Rhett Radford|Rich Burton|sailplane|US Open|Worlds

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Christian Ciech|Florida|George Ferris|Gordon Rigg|Jim Lee|Mike Degtoff|record|Rhett Radford|Rich Burton|sailplane|US Open|Worlds

It’s time to look back on the US Open and evaluate what went on, both for me and for the other pilots, at least those that I can make some judgment about.

The major factor for me at the US Open was fear. Without a tail I mostly thought about tucking the ATOS-C. When I wasn’t fantasizing about tucking, I was able to make a few tactical decisions – like turn in this thermal, or go on glide.

Fortunately, on the last day the conditions were such that I had a bit less fear, although that didn’t seem to help with the results for that day. The first part of that flight was even really enjoyable in the light conditions before the start gate opened.

One’s mind needs to be freed up to make the best decisions. Long before the flight you have to get yourself into a prepared state that lets you contemplate the flight and how you are going to fly it. You need to be able to relax enough to reach back into your stored memory and let the solutions for the various flight problems come to the fore. Fear just blocks a bunch of this.

I’m working on bringing this fear down to a much more manageable level. The tail will help, as it did in Chelan in much stronger conditions. I’m working on other aspects that restimulate the fear, and we’ll see how it goes.

The conditions this week in Big Springwere new and different. You had to go to a cloud or an area that was about to have a cloud in order to find lift. Not all clouds had lift, and many didn’t, but no area that didn’t have a cloud, or wasn’t about to have a cloud had lift.

If you weren’t in lift, you were sinking fast (except on one day where there where high clouds). Good lift, tight cores and lots of sink.

I’m use to the situation in eastern Washington, Florida, Australia, east Texas, south Texas, and so forth, that while you may not be in lift, you aren’t sinking like a stone all the time you’re not. Well, here it was pretty much the case that you were in fact sinking fast if you weren’t in lift.

The hard lesson was first taught (but not fully learned) on day one when I missed goal by 500 yards because I didn’t climb until my flight computer said that I would make goal by 1000’ if the lift and sink would average out on the way to goal. I left when it said I had goal by 200’.

Gliding into goal that day I got 600 fpm down all the way to the ground from 2.5 miles out. I had already had plenty of experience during the task of big sink when not in lift. Still I didn’t have enough mental energy to realize that I had to slow down, climb in the last thermal and make sure I had goal.

Campbell Bowen goes for the clouds. He will go way off course line to get to the clouds. He does this in Florida. He knows where the lift is. It isn’t under every cloud, but it is under some clouds (or in areas that are about to have clouds).

In Chelan there weren’t any clouds. There Campbelldid relatively poorly. In Big Springs there are clouds every day. Campbellgoes way off course to get under them. Campbellmakes goal, while those of us with less useful strategies (run the course line to go the fastest) fall down and don’t make goal.

The one day that there are the fewest clouds, Campbellfalls down early and almost loses the meet.

Campbellis the only rigid wing pilot flying with a tail. Therefore his glider is dampening out the turbulence that the rest of us are dealing with, mentally and physically. Campbellis flying a Flight Design Axxess, not an Axxess +, so no retractable flaps, no fat trailing edge.

Rich Burton is flying the Icaro Stratos. Rich is a very good pilot with only a few hours on rigids. Rich is no Christian Ciech and while he flies very well he is not in that ball park.

Well, no one here at the US Open is equal in performance to Christian, Alex Ploner or David Chaumet. They were far and away better than anyone else at the Worlds in Chelan. Rich is consistent and does well on Christian’s Stratos, but it is clear that Christian isn’t flying it (and you wonder just what it is that Christian does).

Mark P. does very well on the AIR ATOS. He is first every day that he makes goal. So he’s flying fast, but perhaps too fast, as he hits the deck too often. Maybe this comes from trying for records – trying to hit home runs, when hits win the meet.

Launching early is a big factor. Bo starts first almost every day and he comes in second for the meet. The first two days I don’t get to launch early and that doesn’t give me enough time to get up and get in position. Being in the right position at the right time at the start is a very big part of doing well in a meet.

On the fifth day I really do have to go to where the clouds are just about to form. Often during this flight when I go to the clouds they are no longer working and I have to go out in the blue to find the wisps. The wisps are working. I even have to go to where wisps are about to happen, because in a few minutes they are going to turn into big clouds. That’s where the lift is.

Now, there are clouds that are definitely working and when they are thick and black and in a strong cloud street, well you know that at least some of them are indeed working and they do. I even get up in the rain at 600 fpm. Working over a strongly sunlit field under a black cloud street, on the sunny side of a cu-nimb, well, that has a high probability.

Sometime during the meet I get to see Mike Degtoff in the Stalker 2 quite a bit below me circling. I notice after a while how much adverse yaw the Stalker 2 exhibits. Having flown the Stalker 2 I am aware that it has adverse yaw, but it is quite noticeable as I view it from above.

I didn’t get to fly much with Oleg Skriko in Chelan so I don’t remember for sure whether he had so much adverse yaw as I saw Mike and his Stalker 2 exhibit.

On the last day I got a much closer look, and wow that was amazing. I saw so much adverse yaw that it looked like Mike was flailing around with a hatchet in the air going back and forth as he would “circle” in a thermal. It was scary being anywhere near him because you couldn’t really tell just what direction he was heading.

I got to fly with him for about 15 minutes and I was never comfortable with him being in the neighborhood. I wondered just how he felt about it, but when I asked him he had no idea and denied the fact of the adverse yaw. I do know that you can get use to it so that you forget that it is happening, but it is hard not to see it when it is happening right next to you.

I asked other pilots about it and what they mentioned was had badly the control frame shakes. They could easily see this when thermaling with Mike. I had seen it also, but I had forgotten how much it shakes. As I recall there is some slop built in before the ailerons are engaged, but I may have that wrong. Of course, I assume that he is also shaking in pitch from the lack of almost any pitch dampening just like the other rigid wings.

I assume that Mike has put the shaky control bar out of his mind as we all learned to do with the loose control frame on the ATOS (this changed on the ATOS – C). I assume that he just ignores it like we did. Unfortunately, I can’t ignore it anymore.

Of course, the control bar is moving around on its own because it is loose and because the wing is being tossed around. Imagine how a sailplane pilot would feel if the control stick was moving around this much.

Mike can’t see the point of a tail, but then if you don’t notice the lack of pitch dampening you have no reason to want a tail. Once you put on a tail and then notice how much more pitch dampening you have and how much different that control bar feels, then you have something to contemplate.

I did notice that Mike was doing a lot better on the Stalker 2 than on his Stalker (he just added winglets and got the new control frame). The Stalker performed like the Flight Design Exxtacy.

I also notice that Mike is flying around very quickly in the area of lift. He isn’t exactly circling, but it looks like he can’t slow the Stalker 2 down. Now I’ve written about how fast I’m flying when circling in tight cores up on a wing tip, but I’m talking about something different here. I talking about not circling but flying around in the general area of lift.

George Ferris tells me a story about something that happened to him in Zapata this year. He was on tow behind Rhett Radford when the air started getting a bit too turbulent. He decided to pin off. Rhett was feeling that there was a big thermal like the thermal that he hit with Gordon Rigg in Australia.

He is feeling out the air and Rhett is watching him wondering about the air, when George’s ATOS suddenly pitches straight down with most of George in front of the control bar. George stays in front as the ATOS continues to pick up speed and then start to come out of the dive.

George slowly lets the control bar out as he is going way too fast and doesn’t want the glider to blow apart. Later, what George wants to know is what happened to the time between going straight and level and going straight down. It’s one instance one way and the next instant another.

This again is the mind not being able to record continuously. You just can’t get that fine of a detail. The ATOS pitched over so quickly, because it has very little pitch dampening without a tail, that it pitched over before his mind had a chance to record the details. Pretty quick.

George is having a tough time at the US Open also because he doesn’t have a tail. He is scared enough that it is affecting him like it is affecting me. Remember George has already crashed his previous ATOS into the trees. That and all the stories that he’s heard about pilots breaking up their gliders has put him on edge.

George use to think nothing about the control bar on his ATOS jiggling around. Now he has a very tight grip on it (with a wrist strap) and of course every jiggle makes it just that much worse.

I’m flying with a pair of Champro football receiver gloves. They stick to the bar (maybe not a good thing?). They are plenty warm enough for 10,000’ here in Texas. They are light so I can use my fingers to do most anything I need to do in the air (get the bridle out of the way and zip up the harness). They are much more long lasting than the Grippies. $25.

I think that the air conditions in Big Springare quite a bit less turbulent than Chelan and more turbulent than east Texas. I sure liked having the clouds and the lack of inversions. The winds were 10-20 mph, but that seemed to be fine. Cloud base was plenty high enough. I’d say that this is a superior place to fly or have a competition.

Launching on the asphalt was great. We launched in three directions. I doubt that we would ever have a west wind here. Plenty of room for north and south launches, but a little thin for east. It is great to be able to just walk out of the hangar a few yards and get on a cart.

David is looking into coming back to Big Springfor a bigger meet. Maybe the USNationals.

It was good to see Jim Lee do well after he had to leave Floridabecause his neck hurt so bad. The neck pulley that Heiner came up with (Jim had to make his own) worked very well for Jim and I’m happy to see that other pilots find this to be useful.

Bo says that he is learning to fly with other pilots and that’s great. He did a lot better than he has been doing of late and it was good to see him flying so well. Chris Zimmerman pulled it off by being patient and being in a position to win when Jim fell down. Bo says that Chris almost blew it by trying to race Terry on the last day and getting down to 400 feet 4 miles out from goal.

Kari was being a lot smarter and a lot more aggressive than I’ve seen her in a while. She gained back a lot of confidence from winning the women’s worlds. She was flying great and will be a strong member of the USteam at the Worlds next year.

Claire was also much improved and doing very well. She gained more confidence from the women’s worlds and flew to win.

Glen fell down too many times as did Jerz. Big Springwas a bit trickier and these racers weren’t quite ready for it on the first day.

The hangar at Big Spring

No V-tail yet »

Wed, Aug 7 2002, 4:00:02 pm EDT

Dave Brandt|George Ferris|Worlds

Campbell Bowen|Dave Brandt|George Ferris|Worlds

The V-tails are stuck in customs and most likely will never make it to the US Open (if at all). First, I must appreciate Felix very much for coming out with the V-tails at all and for getting me one for the Worlds in Chelan. Without the V-tail I don’t know what I would have done. It certainly would have been much less enjoyable.

Second, I have to recognize that while some pilots don’t care about tails at all, I do. George Ferris desperately wants his. Campbell Bowen, who is in first place, loves his. Dave Brandt would very much appreciate the chance to get one. Still, some pilots may just not be as sensitive to the continual movements of the bar as I am. Of course, I may be gripping it a lot harder than most (but not harder than George).

Third, I hope that we can understand what the V-tail is actually doing to the ATOS to make it behave in a much friendlier manner (if not necessarily making it safer – as we don’t know for sure). It certainly dampens out a lot of excessive bar movements which are coming directly from the twitchy wings. Why the wings move around so much in turbulence, I just don’t know.

It seems that many rigid wing pilots (not just ATOS pilots) complain about the control bar hunting around, etc. There is something about rigid wings (thin cord, high aspect ratio) that leads them to be twitchy. It is good to get rid of this. For me it is good to get rid of this because it quits reminding me that the glider is about to tuck.

US Open – Campbell Bowen and Terry Presley in first »

Wed, Aug 7 2002, 8:00:00 pm GMT

Belinda Boulter|Bo Hagewood|Campbell Bowen|George Ferris|Glen Volk|Jim Lamb|Jim Lee|Kari Castle|Mike Degtoff|photo|Rich Burton|Terry Presley|Timothy Ettridge|US Open 2002

Belinda Boulter|Bo Hagewood|Campbell Bowen|George Ferris|Glen Volk|Jim Lamb|Jim Lee|John "Ole" Olson|Kari Castle|Mike Degtoff|photo|Rich Burton|Terry Presley|Timothy Ettridge|US Open 2002

(?-i)John "Ole" Olson|Belinda Boulter|Bo Hagewood|Campbell Bowen|George Ferris|Glen Volk|Jim Lamb|Jim Lee|Kari Castle|Mike Degtoff|photo|Rich Burton|Terry Presley|Timothy Ettridge|US Open 2002

Belinda Boulter|Bo Hagewood|Campbell Bowen|Chris Zimmerman|George Ferris|Glen Volk|Jim Lamb|Jim Lee|Kari Castle|Mike Degtoff|photo|Rich Burton|Terry Presley|Timothy Ettridge|US Open 2002

www.flytec.com

Results up at 6:35 PM. Of course, the scorekeepers, Tim and Davis, are not really having any problems getting the preliminary scoring done so quickly. We are all coming back to the hangar so that does make it easier. And with a short task today, that helps also.

The winds continue to be out of the east and it looks like over development again like yesterday. The task committee is wary of the conditions and calls three alternate out and return tasks, two to the north, one long (76 miles) and one short (45 miles) and a short task to the south. We’ll look at the conditions just before launching to make a final decision.

The cu’s start forming on the ridge line a little to our east at around 10:30. They get big very quickly and by 11 AMthe airport is shaded. We have moved everything up a half hour to hopefully get us launched before there is any rain or completely shaded airport.

At first we get light rain before the noonopening of the launch window so we push it back a half hour. Then the rain really comes in strong in a squall while we hide under our gliders far from the hangar. That pushes everything back again.

While we wait for the ground to dry out we push the launch time back to 1:45 PMwith the last start time at 3:15 PM. We also choose the shorter task to the north away from all the development to the south.

It’s clear over the airport at 1:45 PMat Bo takes off, then Chris Zimmerman, then Mike Degtoff with me right behind him. We wonder if there will be any lift given all the rain we had near us.

Bo and Chris will sink out. Mike will come back low over the airport, but I think he gets back up. I find 50 fpm at most over the town and radio down to Belinda to have the tug pilots drag everyone over my way. They do and it’s a party.

We very slowly climb in the least turbulent air that we’ve had here in Big Spring(although yesterday was very nice) for the next hour drifting to the west in the 10 mph east wind. That wind sure is consistent around here.

Drifting west in the start circle.

I’m hanging out at 7,800’ MSL with Jim Lee and we are just waiting for the start time to happen as we drift further and further away from the course line in lift that is so light it means that we are actually losing ground.

The lift has been so weak and the ground was so wet that we don’t want to risk going upwind to get on the upwind side of the course line. We are just holding on and hoping to survive long enough to get away from the wet areas. Of course, it would have been much better to get upwind, or at least on the course line, but you don’t always have that choice.

Finally near 3 PM, the second start time, I go out to 6 miles out from the goal (1 mile past the start circle) to get under a nice cu and climb at 500 fpm to 8,500’ MSL. Jim continues to drift back.

This makes it easy to jump back and get the 3 PMstart time and still be high. Now it is a race to work my way back upwind to the second turnpoint. I leave alone as Jim is way behind me. I can’t find anyone else.

I may be off the course line, but I’m right on a good course through plentiful clouds to the turnpoint 20 miles out. I’m staying high and getting a good run and average 28 mph to the turnpoint with four thermals.

Coming into the turnpoint I’ll see one rigid wing low making the turnpoint and Terry Presley high just past it. He took the first start time and I’ve caught him. Kari will come join us in a good thermal just past the turnpoint.

The lift is much better away from the airport over the dry areas and it is also much more turbulent. Seems like normal Big Springrowdy air and you can climb in the very tightest of cores.

I climb with Terry and Kari and then go on glide for a glide that goes on far too long through a blue hole to a mass of clouds. I’m down to 700’ AGL before I find 200 fpm under the clouds. Kari comes and joins me, then goes forward to another bit of 250 fpm from 2000’ AGL.

After we work that a bit and continue to realize how much this is slowing us down, I head for more clouds further south to try to find at least 500 fpm. I find it and it takes me to almost 9,000’ AGL 9 miles from goal. Kari meanwhile doesn’t follow me, meanders off into the blue, gets lower and lower and then has to scrape herself off the deck over highway 87. The rigid wing next to her that we’ve been watching lands.

I’m way too high for making goal, but the lift was 600 fpm, and it was hard to leave after not making goal for three days. Also I just had a long hard sinking glide that almost put me on the deck, so I’m wary of the big sink. I pull in to almost 50 mph airspeed and head to goal.

As I get with two miles I hear from Belinda that Terry Presley and Campbell Bowen (where did he come from?) are the first now crossing goal. I speed up and then see Rich Burton, who started after me, almost right over my head. I pull in more to 60 mph and see if I can beat him to goal at least.

I and then Rich come in third and fourth to goal as I beat him by 4 seconds to get extra 12 arrival points. The airport is in deep shade and the winds are 5 to 10 mph out of the east on the ground. We called a cross wind task for the day and that’s what we got.

Ten or fifteen minutes later Claire, Bo, Glen, and other pilots come in across the goal.

Bo took the 3:15 PM start time and beats Glen Volk (who also started then) by 2 seconds scraping the ground as he comes in next to the hangar. He gets 8 additional speed points on Glen to win the day.

The results for the day for rigid wings:

Rich Burton, Campbell Bowen, DavisStraub, Jim Lamb, Mike Degtoff, and George Ferris.

The cumulative:

CampbellBowen, Mark P., Rich Burton, Mike Degtoff, DavisStraub

The results for the day for flex wings:

Bo Hagewood, Glen Volk, Terry Presley, Jerz Rossignol, Jim Lee

Cumulative:

Jim Lee, Chris Zimmerman, Glen Volk, Bo Hagewood, Kari Castle

Mark P. was flying with Campbell Bowen just above him coming into goal, when his nose cone blows off. He doesn’t have anything behind the nose cone to keep it taut (most of us stuff this volume full of foam or other material) so the air starts going into the sail and inflating the sail, especially on the bottom surface.

Mark feels like the glider is going to tuck as the bar pressure disappears. It keeps acting like it is going over the falls as the sail inflates and deflates. He lands short of the goal after a bad scare.

The flight line at the US Open.

Photos by Timothy Ettridge.

Discuss "US Open – Campbell Bowen and Terry Presley in first" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

George Ferris⁣’s flight on day two »

Tue, Aug 6 2002, 6:00:01 pm EDT

George Ferris

George Ferris|John "Ole" Olson

(?-i)John "Ole" Olson|George Ferris

George Ferris

This is the track log from Compe-GPS of George Ferris’ flight on day two here at the US Open.

At first George goes north and not northwest almost getting the last turnpoint (25T) before after a big struggle he finally makes it to the first turnpoint (27T).

He wizzes downwind to the second turnpoint at Cole and doesn’t have too much trouble making it to the last turnpoint at 25 T. Then past this turnpoint he turns around and goes back downwind at least 10 miles in search of a thermal. When he finds it, he drifts further downwind and away from goal.

He finally gets enough height after another thermal where he can glide into goal (after a short stop) at 8 PM.

Discuss "George Ferris⁣’s flight on day two" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

US Open – day two »

Mon, Aug 5 2002, 4:00:00 pm EDT

George Ferris|Glen Volk|Jim Lamb|Jim Lee|photo|Timothy Ettridge|US Open

George Ferris|Glen Volk|Jim Lamb|Jim Lee|John "Ole" Olson|photo|Timothy Ettridge|US Open

(?-i)John "Ole" Olson|George Ferris|Glen Volk|Jim Lamb|Jim Lee|photo|Timothy Ettridge|US Open

Campbell Bowen|George Ferris|Glen Volk|Jim Lamb|Jim Lee|photo|Timothy Ettridge|US Open

www.flytec.com

The results should be up at 7:30 PM(after many many problems). David and Tim are here at the restaurant at the birthday party for Terry Presley – 48. Jim Lee was 49 yesterday. We are all a bunch of old farts – other than Claire. I’m writing the Oz Report at the dinner table as we wait for the food. 20 pitchers of Margarita’s were provided by the Terry’s wife, Linda. I hope the cops aren’t outside.

The virtual goals are really helping out getting the scores up early. We don’t have to wait until the scorekeepers bring in the results. Does cut down on the excitement at goal. Pilots just come in and then put their hang gliders in the hangar. Does cut down on the costs of the meet to the organizers and to the pilots.

We called a task to the south, but then changed it to the same task as yesterday when few clouds showed up to the south before the task. We also pushed it back 45 minutes, which was probably a mistake as the cu’s were working earlier.

Here in Big Springthe strong lift goes hand in hand with the big sink. This is not like Chelan where you can be assured of a reasonable glide between thermals. Here you should expect 700 to 800 fpm down between thermals.

The lift is either rough or smooth as can be. I got down to 500 feet AGL twice on the course and worked wonderfully smooth and consistent lift that got to 900 fpm to almost 10,000’ MSL. Catching lift at 6 or 7,000’ often resulted in ratty thermals that required lots of bar movement to keep the ATOS in a circle.

Mark P. and I are together at cloud base (9,600’ MSL) at 2:45, the last start time, but with only one other flex wing in the area there just aren’t any gaggles at the start circle. It is lonely out here and we are in the perfect position, so you’ve got to wonder what’s up. Other pilots did take the earlier start times.

As we head for the first turnpoint 15 miles to the northeast I see a rigid wing low. They’ve obviously taken an earlier start time and gotten the first turn point, but now they are struggling. Mark stops in ragged lift, but I continue on as I’m uncomfortable with it. No lift in the next two big clouds, and soon I’m joining the rigid who was low and now has landed. I climb out over his field from 500’. Nice to find a friendly thermal.

Mark P. is over my head in a good one and I’m climbing. Flex wings are spread out over the course with plenty not making the last start time at 2:45PM.

It’s downwind to the second turnpoint, 25 miles and I’ll get to 10,500’ MSL just before the turnpoint. No one is in view, so I can’t say what the story is. Just after the turnpoint, I’m back down to 1000’ AGL. I work 0-100 fpm until I find 700 fpm, and as I climb Jim Lamb in an ATOS- C and Terry Presley join me. We get plenty high at 900 fpm as we climb.

The wind is 20 mph out of the east or east south east, but we are high so no worries. The clouds are drying up to our south and that is a worry.

Five miles from the third turnpoint, I’m back down to 500’. Big Springis a story of up and down, not climb and glide. I get under a cloud that is building by racing downwind, and climb back to 9,500’ MSL and 800 fpm. I can see Jim Lamb behind me but I’ve lost Terry.

Mark P. is ahead and making goal soon. Campbell Bowen who started early will soon come in behind him. After this climb I don’t get any more lift and glide to a landing 4 miles from goal.

Terry gets to 11,500’ MSL 3 miles from the last turnpoint, glides 12 miles to goal. His Tangent says that he won’t make it, but he makes it by 300 feet as the wind component isn’t quite as strong as he punched in.

George Ferris in an ATOS will make the third turnpoint, hit the blue hole between it and goal, drift back almost ten miles, get up and finally make it goal at 8 PM, the last one into goal.

Glen Volk will win the day after landing short yesterday. Again look at the results to see how your favorite pilot did.

Kari and Claire pants Terry Presley at the pilot meeting. Photos by Timothy Ettridge.

B1 Bomber flyby at the US Open at 20,000’ MSL

WRE – Flytec vario winner »

Thu, Jul 25 2002, 9:00:01 pm GMT

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Alex Ploner|André Wolfe|Bo Hagewood|David Glover|FAI|Fly Chart|Flytec|Flytec 4020|George Ferris|Jim Lamb|Mike Barber|paraglider|Pete Lehmann|record|software|Steve Kroop|triangle|Will Gadd|World Record Encampment 2002

WRE – Flytec vario winner

David Glover «dhglover» writes:

The longest flight ever on a hang glider, paraglider and distance to goal - all used the Flytec vario. It was very nice of Steve Kroop of FlytecUSA to add this contest to his already generous support of the event. Over 150 people entered from all over the world.

I was waiting to get confirmation from George Ferris of the longest rigid flight this year.

Mike Barber 438 miles - longest ever Will Gadd 262 miles - longest ever George Ferris 225 miles - George's longest ever

Total Miles 925

This year’s tally of other great flights (almost all in the first week): New distance to goal record 321 miles Pete Lehmann and Mike Barber. 399 mile flight by Andre Wolf. Paragliding record broken 3 times (Dave Prentice, Marcello of Brazil Prieto and Will). Fastest speed ever around a 100km almost FAI triangle (or any triangle size, including Swifts) - Alex Ploner. Fastest speed around 100km FAI triangle - Bo Hagewood. Fastest out and return for CBRW - Jim Lamb.

The winner is: 927 miles - Andre Guindon of Canada (unless someone can prove they guessed closer)

He gets a Flytec 4020 Professional - that comes standard with Flychart CD software, PC cable, Manual, 2 year warranty and bright pink bag.

We will do it again next year!

Worlds – let’s all go to Soap Lake »

Fri, Jul 19 2002, 6:00:00 pm EDT

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Brian Porter|dust devil|Florida|George Ferris|Larry Jorgensen|Manfred Ruhmer|Peter Gray|weather|Worlds

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Brian Porter|dust devil|Florida|George Ferris|John "Ole" Olson|Larry Jorgensen|Manfred Ruhmer|Peter Gray|weather|Worlds

(?-i)John "Ole" Olson|Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Brian Porter|dust devil|Florida|George Ferris|Larry Jorgensen|Manfred Ruhmer|Peter Gray|weather|Worlds

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Brian Porter|dust devil|Florida|George Ferris|Larry Jorgensen|Manfred Ruhmer|Peter Gray|weather|Worlds

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Brian Porter|dust devil|Florida|George Ferris|Larry Jorgensen|Manfred Ruhmer|Peter Gray|weather|Worlds

http://www.elltel.net/peterandlinda/2002%20Worlds/Worlds%20Main.htm

Peter Gray wanted to be sure that Oz Report readers knew that it wasn’t his fault that the latest scores weren’t up on the web site above at 2 AMin the morning the morning after the task. As I reported earlier the team leaders voted to keep the scores off the web until they got their hard copy in the morning at 8:30 AM. Then the scores could go up on the web, but, of course, as I understand it, Peter is sleeping after a hard night at 8:30 AM, so they get up there later. I hope all that is clear.

The weather forecast continues to be slight variations on the same theme. Today – 600 fpm maximum lift, 9,000’ top of the lift, winds 15 to 20 out of the west. Larry Jorgensen will free fly and at 5:30 PMwe’ll hear that he has used the strong west winds to get into Idaho. And, he was still in the air.

Our task was somewhat different. They’ll send us south east to SoapLake, a very small community at the end out Dry coulee. Then we’ll head up to Leahy, an intersection also in a coulee about 2/3’rds of the way up BanksLake. Then back to Mansfield. The women will have a shorter task with Withrow, Sims, Leahy and back to Mansfield.

I decide that the only way to get a good start position is to launch early. I’ve been trying to do this, but other pilots are thinking the same thing, and when I get ready, every one else does also and suddenly there is a big line.

Today I decide to launch at 12:30 PM, the first time possible. The women will have the priority launch between 1 and 1:45, and previously this caused great distress on the part of the rigid wing pilots who didn’t get off earlier. I don’t want to be a part of that scene.

Also, I’m concerned about wind coming up the river. The forecast is ambiguous about winds being WNW or WSW. WSW means that we could get stuck on the butte in 15 mph winds. WNW means we could probable get away from the butte. I can see wind on the river (WSW), so I’m hoping to get away before it blows out at the butte. Jorge Canto has driven in from the flats and reports that out there it is honking out of the southwest, while on the butte it is still pretty quiet.

I launch a little after 12:30and find light lift although there is plenty of lift if I want to drift back with Manfred and climb behind the butte. I elect to stay out front and climb slowly.

Apparently the scene down bellow at launch is more than a little tense. I had my own little tussle with the meet director, but it seems things really got out of hand later. Pilots were cutting each other off in a rush to get off before the priority line closed to rigid wings at 1 PM. Turns out they just moved off a bit and ran off the hill side, like it was no problem. Of course, we had been told earlier that there would be no secondary launch sites near Green Monster as it was unsafe. Of course, the wind was more west than the previous day, so launching anywhere was just fine.

As I look out to the west I see a fire starting in Navarre Coulee a few miles to the west of the butte. The fire is soon raging and it looks like it could sweep over the top of the hills and make it to the butte. Only a few pilots have launched and I’m gladder than ever that I got out of there early. The EMT is in touch with the fire marshal and the butte is ordered to be evacuated. They let the rest of the pilots launch because that will take less time to get everyone down.

I fly away with a few other pilots over to the flats leaving the butte a little low at 6,500’, but there is enough activity over on the flats so that a low save over dust devils is possible. Everyone launches quickly and soon they are all over on the flats circling up in the start circle.

The fire near the butte seems to very quickly die down and doesn’t appear to pose any threat. The fire up lake on the north side of Lake Chelanis another story and it flares up during the day and produces vast amounts of smoke. As I type this tonight the lake area is full of smoke. Who knows what will be happening tomorrow.

At 2 PMsixteen of us head off at 8,500’ southeast toward SoapLake. We want to get far away from the guys who’ll take the 2:15start gate. Lift is strong over a dust devil near Farmer, so there is no reason to stop for anything under 700 fpm.

We dive into Moses Coulee and hop over to the next plateau to the west of SoapLake. It’s working and we’re working and it’s a race. The winds are out of the west at 20 mph, so we are being blown over toward Dry coulee as we head south to the town. The big question is, can we get the turnpoint and fight back hard enough to get back up on this plateau. Otherwise we’ll have to drift downwind to the east to the lower and less productive area that will require us to cross Dry Coulee later in the second leg.

We get high enough before going for the turnpoint that we are able to make it back to the western plateau. I join up with Brian Porter. Kurt Schumman and Berndt Weber are hanging with me as we get up on the plateau and head north toward Leahy. It is almost due north so, we have to continually deal with the strong west wind.

As we get near Sims Corner, it is clear that there is a lot of smoke in the air from the fire on the north side of the lake. With the winds out of the west the smoke has come out over the flats and we are concerned that the thermals may be scarce when we turn at Leahy and come back upwind to Mansfield.

The winds are dying down as we get near Leahy so maybe it won’t be so bad going upwind. The winds are down to about 7 mph out of the south southwest now.

Heading upwind is a treat in the light winds even though it is hard to see anything for all the smoke in the air. Gliders come into view and then disappear. There is reasonable lift coming into goal so quite a few make this task that was to be so big that it would be too hard for most.

Kari was the first women in and won the day. She is so far ahead of the field that she could not fly tomorrow and still be the world champion. But, she needs to fly so that the American team has a chance to win the team competition. The whole German team came in with her. Claire was late, but got there just behind Natalie. She’ll stay in third place. The French women were not to be seen.

Alex Ploner came in first, but Christian had a 15 minute later start and was just behind him. Looks like Christian will stay in the lead. Probably twenty or so rigids made goal. I, then Campbell, Vince, Heiner, and Bruce made goal on the USteam. Bruce had a poor start from low.

Manfred was first on the Swift Lite, followed by Brian and Bruno. Johnny Carr landed in the soccer field. Manfred flew away from goal, but with the fire situation, he didn’t land on top of the butte (which actually would have been okay).

Christian caught me just before the SoapLaketurnpoint, so you know he was flying. He seemed to be keeping pace with the Swifts at the point, but I’m sure that they got ahead of him later (Manfred came in 11 minutes before Alex, but Kari was the first pilot in).

The air was pretty rough in a lot of places. George Ferris got a wrist strap from me this morning. Chelan air is quite a bit rougher than Australian, Texas, or Floridaair. There are nice patches of smooth lift, but the lift isn’t strong enough to make own competitive.

Launching first was definitely the ticket, although it still didn’t make up for my unwillingness to stay in some of the rougher air. I passed up the strongest lift as I just wasn’t that comfortable in it. Maybe my aggressiveness will return some day.

WRE – oh so very very patient »

Mon, Jul 1 2002, 5:00:00 pm GMT

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Alex Ploner|Doug Prather|Felix Ruehle|George Ferris|Jamie Shelden|Mosquito|World Record Encampment 2002

Some flying today, but no record attempts as the moisture still hangs heavy in the sky. Strong winds – 30 mph – which is what we love. No real rain and little over development.

It is drying out and we expect better flying as the week proceeds.

George Ferris left today headed from Chelan for the Worlds. Jamie Sheldon and Alex Ploner leave tomorrow so that they can pick up Felix Ruehle in San Francisco on Friday and then get up to Chelan.

Doug Prather flies his Mosquito as Zapata:

Discuss "WRE – oh so very very patient" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

US World Team

Fri, Jun 28 2002, 1:00:04 pm EDT

Brian Porter|CIVL|George Ferris|Heiner Biesel|Jim Yocom|Kari Castle|Ron Gleason|USHGA|Vince Endter|Worlds

Brian Porter|Bruce Barmakian|CIVL|George Ferris|Heiner Biesel|Jim Yocom|Kari Castle|Ron Gleason|USHGA|Vince Endter|Worlds

Brian Porter|Bruce Barmakian|Campbell Bowen|CIVL|George Ferris|Heiner Biesel|Jim Yocom|Kari Castle|Ron Gleason|USHGA|Vince Endter|Worlds

Ron Gleason «xcflying» writes:

The worlds championships for Class 1 women’s., Class 2 and Class 5 will be held in Chelan, WA from July 11 through 21st. TheUS will have a team for each class competing.

Class 1 – Women’s Flex Wing

Kari Castle
Claire Vassort
Judy Hilderbrand
Raean Permenter

Class 2 – Open Class

Brian Porter –Swift Light
Jim Zeiset –Guggenmos ESC 143

Class 5 – Control bar rigid wings

DavisStraub – ATOS C
Bruce Barmakian – ATOS
Heiner Biesel – ATOS
CampbellBowen – Axxess+
Jim Yocom – ATOS C

Vince Endter – Stratos C
George Ferris – ATOS
Tom Vayda – ATOS
Mike Daily – Flight Design Exxtacy

The team members were determined based upon the USHGA NTSS ranking system and/or their placement within CIVL Class 2 meets.

Observations:

Class 1 – Kari is defending her title as Women’s World Champion, we all look forward to assisting her retain that title! Raean is flying in her first world’s competition, expectations are high.

Class 2 – Since Class 5 had all five positions filled, JZ was able to switch to Class 2. This will be a tremendous benefit to Brian as two pilots will be scored each round.

Class 5 - The first five people listed will score for the team while the others will score just for the individual title.

Team Leaders:

Linda Sauer – focusing on the Class 1 pilots and driving for Class 1. Linda is a tremendous asset as she brings experience from last years worlds inSpain and many other competitions.

Amy Zeiset – focusing on the Class 2 pilots and driving for Class 2. As with Linda, Amy brings tremendous experience from previous world championships and has been a great asset in organizational issues and housing.

Ron Gleason – focusing on all Classes and driving for Class 5 and anyone else that needs a ride. I am the liability for the team, having never been to a world meet, limited competition experience, but will try to assist and ensure that everyone have a fun time and to represent our pilots to the fullest!

There is no question that eachUS team has a great opportunity to win the team competition and individuals from eachUS team have a shot at the individual title for their respective class.

What does it take to fly in the World Championships?

Commitment, flying skills, and more commitment! Outside of the ability to qualify for the team, which typically takes many years, much time, money and commitment, each individual will expend close to or more than $2,000 to attend the Worlds in Chelan. Why so much? The entry fee is $675, travel expenses can be over $500 (for example Campbell Bowen is driving from the Orlando FL area and will drive over 7000 miles round trip), $250-500 for lodging, $250+ for meals, and $250 for drivers and retrieve vehicles (this is $25 per day for 10 days).

The USHGA competition funds contribute some funds to defray the team costs. The funds are comprised of membership donations and some matching by the USHGA, the USHGA matches contributions *if* they are made at the time of membership renewal.

All members of the each team, Class 1, 2 and 5, say THANK YOU to all of you that have contributed to the competition funds, your assistance is greatly appreciated. Furthermore, the women’s team has done a GREAT job at fund raising and will have many, if not most, of their expenses will be covered. Again, thanks from all the women for buying their t-shirts and/or participating in their other fund raising events.

Let’s all hope that everything comes together to have a great world championships and that theUSA brings home many medals.

WRE – Will Gadd sets new paraglider world record »

Fri, Jun 21 2002, 10:00:00 pm GMT

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Alex Ploner|David Glover|George Ferris|Jamie Shelden|Mike Barber|paraglider|Pete Lehmann|photo|Russ Brown|Will Gadd|world record|World Record Encampment 2002

Dave Prentice’s new paragliding world record stood for only 24 hours, as Will Gadd today starting an hour earlier set the new world paragliding record at 263 miles (423 kilometers). Dave towed him up after getting back at 5:30 AM. We just heard from Will at 10:45 PM as he got back into cell phone range.

Russ Brown took this photo of will in 2000. David Glover is our official photographer and produced the shots in the last Oz Report.

There are a couple of paraglider pilots yet to be heard from, so who knows.

Conditions were good today (obviously), but not great. Winds were forecast to be more easterly and lighter than yesterday. Lots of moisture with good cloud development early. Hang glider pilots were taking off at around 9:30 AM. Will got off, I believe, shortly after 10, instead of 11:30 AM like Dave did yesterday when he went first (people are learning slowly that they’ve got to go early).

Looks like tomorrow will be more easterly and lighter winds. Maybe another record?

No hang glider pilot tried for a record today. Jamie Sheldon launched early but didn’t get across the first 35 miles of difficult terrain. Alex Ploner stayed near the airport running up wind and over toward the paraglider launch. Most pilots were still getting back from yesterday.

No word on whether Mike Barber set the new world record or not. We will have to do an analysis tomorrow. Pilots who went long said that the flying was easy except at the hill country where many of them got very very low and had very scary experiences in unlandable terrain. George Ferris chose the prickly pair over the Mesquite. He had needle nose pliers to pull out the thorns. Pete Lehmann said he thought for sure that he was going to die.

Notice all the cumulus clouds streeting right along the border of Texas and Mexico at 7:30 PM. This is Will’s probable route to the northwest. The sea breeze has killed the lift to the east of Zapata at this time.

More tomorrow.

Discuss "WRE – Will Gadd sets new paraglider world record" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

WRE – Thursday - New World Records »

Wed, Jun 19 2002, 6:00:01 pm GMT

André Wolfe|David Prentice|George Ferris|James "Jim" Lamb|Jamie Shelden|Jim Lamb|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Manfred Ruhmer|Mike Barber|PG|record|Will Gadd|William "Gary" Osoba jr.|WRE

The winds were predicted to be lighter and more out of the east, but when we got to the airport, they were stronger than Wednesday and out of the southeast. The cu’s were forming all night and there were plenty of clouds when we got to the airport a little before nine.

The cloud streets were already forming at nine as we quickly went through the pilot meeting. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t get the pilots to get going as early as I wanted. I had decided to not fly based on the prediction for more easterly winds further along the course line (this would prove to be not quite as bad as forecast).

Finally, Andre Wolf (Icaro Laminar MR 700 WRE), who hadn’t flown on Wednesday having just arrived, carried his glider out around 10:30 AM. We could see six cloud streets over the airport for the preceding hour and a half. He was the first pilot off.

Quickly Peter Lehmann (WW Talon), Mike Barber (Moyes Litespeed), Jim Lamb (AIR ATOS), and George Ferris (AIR ATOS) got into the air in strong winds. Pilots who used the cart rolled for about five feet before they popped out.

Jamie Sheldon (Flight Design Exxtacy) took off at 11 AMbut found the conditions to be too rough and landed shortly thereafter. Gary Osoba went up at 11:30 AMin the SparrowHawk and mentioned later that it was very rough near the airport early with very unworkable tight cores at 2,000 fpm. It appears that it was too strong and therefore indicates that we were launching way too late.

At 3 PMwe heard from pilots and drivers far to the north. Mike was 177 miles out at 2:30 PM(a very good distance for this time), Bo was driving for the paraglider pilots after a later retrieve getting his glider out from off the road in the hill country. Louise was 70 miles out on her paraglider at 2 PMand on a record pace (the general class world record).

Dave Prentice was going strong. Will Gadd get out of the paddock. Jim Lamb was 150 miles out and George after getting low was just behind him. Pete Lehmann was between Jim and George. No word from Andre at 3 PMas he was on a different frequency.

Jim Lamb was reporting that the thermals were of the one hand variety so it must have calmed down as pilots went further north. Here is what the satellite showed at 3:30 PM:

Notice that the cloud streets from Zapata continue on up into north central Texas. They should be there in the panhandle when Mike, Andre and the others get there later today.

Louise, Dave Prentice and Santiagoa Mexican paraglider got away from the airport. Dave was 130 miles out at 4 PM. Louise had landed.

7 PM:

Dave Prentice is at over 208 miles out high and circling up. He has broken the existing paragliding world record. He has an hour and a half of daylight left. Bo is chasing him and stopping for gas in Del Rio. Bo has encouraged Dave to keep going as far as possible into the boonies. It would appear that there is indeed a bunch of east in the wind.

At 4:30 PMthe word was that Mike Barber was 230 miles out heading toward BigLake(321 miles) as his declared goal. This may be a little too much into the wind but it sure looks like he has the chance to go at least that far.

Simone has lost radio contact with Andre, and it will probably be another hour and a half before Andre lands if he is still in the air (very likely). Pete and George were still in the air although Jim Lamb was reported to have landed at 175 miles out. We are not able to raise Chris the driver for Mike and George, nor Andrew, Pete’s driver on their cell phones.

The 6:30 PMsatellite shows over development coming in from New Mexico(and the dry line) up in the panhandle between Lubbockand Amarillo. The sea breeze coming in from the gulf and wiping out the cumulus clouds from behind. Lots of east component with cu’s in the middle of the state where the pilots are flying up as far as 450 miles out from Zapata.

9:00 PM

Santiagolanded at 335 kilometers (208 miles) matching the existing world record distance for paragliders. David Prentice somehow thought that he had to land at 8:01 PMas sunset (just look out in the sky Dave) and flew 240 miles for the new world record (386 km). He landed next to a house and Bo is on his way with Louise to pick up David and hopefully get Santiagoon the way back.

Dave Prentice

Pete Lehmann and Mike Barber both made the same distance to goal world record at 321 miles out at BigLake(the place where the movie “The Rookie” took place). Pete landed there, Mike flew over him and kept going. At a few minutes before 8 PM, Mike was at 394 miles out from Zapata, past Midlandand high. He has a good chance to beat Manfred’s record. He has a 3-mile strobe and could fly until about 9:30 PM.Pete and his driver are chasing him right now.

Simone has not gained contact with Andre Wolf yet. She can’t get her new cell phone to work and called in from a pay phone 600 km out from Zapata. We have told her to get a motel room and call back with the phone number there.

George Ferris landed 223 miles out. Chris, his driver, is looking for him in Loma Alta west of Rock Springs. Jim Lamb is driving back and is just south of Uvalde.

10 PM:

Mike just called in and he broke the world record with a flight of 437 miles. Unfortunately it is not 1% longer than Manfred’s so it doesn’t set a new world record. Oh, wait, wait a minute, this is Garmin GPS distance, not great circle distance. His distance should be enough to make the world record! Oh, wait, nope, it is 437.8 miles from the Zapata way point using the FAI method. We have to await notification of Mike’s release point to know if he has actually broke the world record by enough to make it official.

Mike launching on his record flight

Andre has landed and contacted Dave. We don’t know just where he is.

So it looks like the pilots have set 4 world records today from Zapata. This on a day when pilots should have launched an hour and a half earlier.

The winds did have a lot of east in them today and so pilots were on a route much further to the west than we’ve gone previously.

Discuss "WRE – Thursday - New World Records" at the Oz Report forum   link»

WRE – Wednesday »

Wed, Jun 19 2002, 6:00:00 pm GMT

A.I.R. ATOS C|Aeros Combat|Aeros Combat 2|AIR ATOS|AIR ATOS-C|Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Bo Hagewood|David Prentice|Exxtacy|Flight Design|George Ferris|Hans Bausenwein|Jamie Shelden|Mike Barber|Moyes Litespeed|Pete Lehmann|Will Gadd|World Record Encampment 2002

Wednesday started off with cumulus clouds forming early at two lower levels. The bottom level with a cloud base starting off below 2,000’. At around 19:45 AM the sky was completely black with cumulus clouds – the great precursor of a super day in Zapata.

As the general darkness of the cumulus cover began to break up into cloud streets pilots (starting with Bo Hagewood on the Aeros Combat 2) started launching and finding good lift up to the lower cloud base at 2,400’. Pete Lehmann (WW Talon), George Ferris (AIR ATOS), Dave Watkins (AIR ATOS), Mike Barber (Moyes Litespeed), Jamie Sheldon (Flight Design Exxtacy), and Alex Ploner (AIR ATOS-C) all took off and got quickly to cloud base drifting north quickly in the moderate winds.

The wind direction was quite good and no one had any problem skirting the Laredo airspace as the clouds raised and spread out a bit.

While Gary had predicted strong winds, this turned out not to be the case. Pilots landed mostly at around 125 miles, with Alex Ploner landing near Uvalde (160 miles) and Bo going down way off the road at 184 miles, necessitating a long retrieve (without his glider).

Jamie landed at 30 miles out (automatically setting – but not claiming – the women’s rigid world record) behind two locked gates but a short distance from our friend Rick Walker’s ranch house. He later went in with his helicopter and retrieved Jamie’s glider.

Dave Prentice got up on his first tow into 800 fpm, that turned into 1000 fpm right to cloud base. He raced himself into the ground not too long afterwards. Must have got too excited. Will Gadd and Louise flew their paragliders about 130 miles before deciding to stop. They required multiple tows, as did Hans Bausenwein who landed near Dave. Both Dave and Hans hitchhiked back into town from the main dirt road to our north.

We are looking for more moisture to be pushed up across the state to make for more clouds along the route. It was clear from the satellite photos today that the clouds only went about 200 miles out. It looks like more moisture will be coming our way on Friday.

Discuss "WRE – Wednesday" at the Oz Report forum   link»

WRE – 1st day »

Sat, Jun 15 2002, 6:00:01 pm GMT

day

George Ferris|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Mike Barber|Pete Lehmann|PG|sailplane|weather|Will Gadd

The forecast was for mostly blue conditions after a week of cu’s. Winds light out of the south getting up to 10 mph (quite light for here) later in the day. It looked like there would be small cu’s after noon.

It is quite strange to be here and have such light winds. We expect it to be howling every day.

George Ferris (ATOS), Pete Lehmann (WW Talon), and Mike Barber (Moyes Litepseed) all decided to take a little “let’s get use to the area” flight, launching around 1 PM. At 60 miles out they called Uvalde airport as a goal and landed there around 6:30 PMat 165 miles out. Not bad for such light winds and just a few cu’s.

Over at the paraglider tow paddock (19 miles east of the Zapata County Arport), Will Gadd and Dave Prentice were up for big flights if possible, even though my 9 AMweather forecast was for poor conditions (relatively speaking for this site). Will Gadd’s tow line got bumped when he was at 125 ft. He got off tow and very slowly stayed up drifting quickly back to the north. Dave Prentice towed up about 30 to 45 minutes later. Will landed around 7:30 PM3 miles north of Uvalde and Dave landed a bit to the south in La Pryor.

The conditions don’t look good for super long flights (over 200 miles) tomorrow or Monday, but it looks like it will turn on for Tuesday and Wednesday.

There is a dominant high pressure forming out in the Atlantic Oceanwhich pushes a ridge of high pressure into the gulf. This should set up perfect conditions for us, something that we never quite got last year.

Garylet me fly his Woodstock– ultralight sailplane. Now I see why the guy does so well. This is by far the easiest flying sailplane I’ve ever flown. I was off a little after 10 AM, picked up a thermal at 1,300’ after being towed to 3,000’ and experiencing 100 fpm sink rate while just buzzing around at 50 mph. Climbed back up to 2,100’ a couple of times and then brought it down so Gary could fly it. Sweet.

Discuss "WRE – 1st day" at the Oz Report forum   link»

More thoughts on the meets in Florida

Thu, May 2 2002, 3:00:00 am EDT

Brett Hazlett|Curt Warren|Florida|George Ferris|Mike Barber

Brett Hazlett|Curt Warren|Florida|George Ferris|Mike Barber|Oleg Bondarchuk

Brett Hazlett|Curt Warren|Florida|George Ferris|Mike Barber|Oleg Bondarchuk

We had 14 out of 15 days that were flyable and soarable (including the transition day). Floridawas great to us this year, but it is not that unusual.

I moved my hang point ¼” forward and in the following days I found the ATOS-C quite pleasant to fly. It could have totally been an issue of the air conditions though and had nothing to do with my hang point and the relation of my new center of gravity to the center of lift.

Still, George Ferris contents that the ATOS is quite sensitive to small changes in the pilot’s hang point and that placing the hang point further forward increases the responsiveness of the glider. I would love to know just how much each of these changes makes, and may get a chance if I can get some flights late in the evening when the turbulence doesn’t affect the feel of the glider.

I felt quite a bit of nervousness on the Stalker 2 also, and I wonder how my hang point on it affects the feel of the glider. It seems that rigid wing gliders in general are much more sensitive to hang point placement and I wonder how much more sensitive they are than flex wings.

Alex and Christian were performing much better than the rest of the ATOS field (as well as much better than other rigid wings). Alex was making out like it was feeling out lines of lift that determined the difference, well, maybe.

I realize that I was in a state most of the time that made it difficult for me to be sensitive to much of the input I was getting from the environment and so could hardly differentiate between subtle variations in lift. Still, I’m betting that streamlined salad bowls with strings (head fairings), the lack of a pulley to hold your head up, and nice new clean harnesses had something to do with it. Small differences in drag really add up quickly.

I’ll be looking for ways to reduce my drag a bit more, but I hate the feeling that I’m being driven toward head fairings. I can fly without the pulley for the short flights that we have to do in competition, while the ten hour flights are likely to be more comfortable with this extra help. Maybe I need a XC and a competition configuration.

All pilots are forced to carry ballast in order to be able to glide with other pilots. We know that this reduces our climb rates in thermals, but as one pilot pointed out, getting the best climb does you no good when it just puts you on top, then in front and out on your own.

The GAP system didn’t encourage anyone to go out in front. Going out in front is crazy unless you expect something extraordinary to happen, like a thunderstorm. It is so much faster to fly from behind and just let the guys out in front of you find the lift.

The fifteen minute interval is not enough to discourage pilots from taking the later clock. The fact that there were only three start times at the Floridameets meant that we would have to go soon anyway. In Australiathe first gaggle would leave at about the third start clock.

The three start time rule basically drove when we left so we didn’t need to have GAP 2002 or OzGAP drive our decision to leave. But the pilots who left a bit earlier just didn’t get much value for going out in front. The miserable few extra points that they got, certainly weren’t worth the risk and the extra time that it took for them to complete the course.

Jim Zeiset and Heiner Beisel both quit flying the other rigid wings that they were flying and switched over to the ATOS. Independently they both claimed the same reason. They were unable to climb with the ATOS pilots in their other rigid wing gliders.

I can testify that this sure seemed to be true for Heiner when I saw him flying in the Wallaby Open. I didn’t get a good look at Jim Zeiset before he was flying the ATOS. Jim has the handicap of flying with a round base tube and wheels which he used for landing – which he does very well at I must say. He is protecting an expensive knee. Given the round base tube and wheels Jim did very well on his ATOS and finished in front of ATOS pilots with better configurations.

Oleg was flying a smaller Combat 2, a smaller glider than is normal for him. He was flying the 146 sq ft model. His Combat 2 is a little different than the one he flew in Australiait does have its top of camber a bit further forward than the previous version. I don’t know if this is the current version of the Combat 2 or whether this is a prototype.

Mike Barber said that Oleg wasn’t climbing quite as well as he would before on his bigger glider. He felt that Brett Hazlett and Curt Warren (flying Moyes Litespeeds) had a slightly better glide than Oleg at high speeds. Mike flies for Moyes.

The T-tail

Sat, Apr 20 2002, 5:00:03 pm EDT

George Ferris|John Vernon

I’ve been flying with John Vernon’s («johnv») T-tail during the Wallaby Open and I’ll fly with it during the Flytec Championship. Felix is also working on a tail, but hasn’t tested nor completed it.

Here’s what John’s T-tail looks like on the ATOS-C:

I haven’t felt any effect that I could attribute to the tail. For the most part the ATOS-C with the T-tail has felt good even in rough air (there was a bit on Friday). I only left lift once. George Ferris said he landed at Quest partly because he didn’t like the air.

We are still working on the issue of angle of attack of the tail. Felix wants it to be -1 degree (5 degrees up from the keel). The tail is supposed to provide a little lift (a bit more than necessary to lift itself).

Why a tail? Rigid wing hang gliders have less pitch dampening than topless hang gliders. Pitch dampening is calculated by Felix to provide 70% of the resistant to tucking (the other 30% pitch up moment from the twist).

Pitch dampening is affected by the geometry of the sail. A tail is part of that geometry. The effect of the tail is increased in proportion to the cube of its distance from the center of rotation of the sail.

There are many different causes of tucks and tumbles (many different air conditions), but in those situations where pitch dampening is useful, a tail is useful.

I’ll see how it goes in the Flytec Championship.

Wallaby Open – rain, rain, rain

Mon, Apr 15 2002, 5:00:00 pm EDT

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Blue Sky|Brian Porter|Christian Ciech|David Prentice|Florida|George Ferris|Jim Lamb|John Vernon|Manfred Ruhmer|Peter Gray|Robin Hamilton|Wallaby Open 2002|Wallaby Ranch|weather

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Blue Sky|Brian Porter|Christian Ciech|David Prentice|Florida|George Ferris|Jim Lamb|John "Ole" Olson|John Vernon|Manfred Ruhmer|Peter Gray|Robin Hamilton|Wallaby Open 2002|Wallaby Ranch|weather

(?-i)John "Ole" Olson|Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Blue Sky|Brian Porter|Christian Ciech|David Prentice|Florida|George Ferris|Jim Lamb|John Vernon|Manfred Ruhmer|Peter Gray|Robin Hamilton|Wallaby Open 2002|Wallaby Ranch|weather

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Blue Sky|Brian Porter|Christian Ciech|Chris Zimmerman|David Prentice|Florida|George Ferris|Jim Lamb|John Vernon|Manfred Ruhmer|Peter Gray|Robin Hamilton|Wallaby Open 2002|Wallaby Ranch|weather

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Blue Sky|Brian Porter|Christian Ciech|David Prentice|Florida|George Ferris|Jim Lamb|John Vernon|Manfred Ruhmer|Peter Gray|Robin Hamilton|Wallaby Open 2002|Wallaby Ranch|weather

But we don’t care about the rain. We call a task that takes the forecast for rain into consideration and it turns out great.

The task committee (again, I’m on the task committee, so there is every opportunity for bias here) calls a fairly short (54 mile) out and return task to the north from Wallaby Ranch to the Gator turnpoint just south of the Florida turnpike and west of highway 27. Assuming that we’ll be able to average 25 mph, this is a two hour task. Certainly such a task won’t stress out the green circle competition pilots, but the main reason we call this short a task is that we want to avoid the chance of over development that is forecast for later in the day.

It appears as though a summer weather pattern has established itself in Floridaand the spring has been avoided completely. Winter and spring are dry, but summer is wet with afternoon thunderstorms from local convective heating and plenty of moisture in the air.

The day starts off with blue sky and no winds. A few small clouds are drifting past coming out of the west which belies our forecast for light southeasterly winds. The forecast data is sparse for today for some reason, but the lift looks weak, the winds light, and the rain chance high late in the afternoon.

We move the day up ½ and hour and encourage pilots to take off at around 11 AMwith a start gate opening at twelve thirtyand continuing until 1:30– five start times. A few pilots do get off before 11:30 AM, and the lift is light, but they stay up. Soon the launch lines are full and 17 tugs/trikes are yanking pilots up almost as fast as they can get into one of the two launch pads. Almost no waiting.

A short time after I’m in the air I’ll look down and see that the Ranch is almost bare of competition pilots. I think everyone (98 or so pilots) gets off within 45 minutes. Thanks to the great ground crew and the tug/trike pilots. Thanks to Johnny B who put me in a nice thermal at 1,400’.

The lift is indeed light averaging less than 100 fpm and cloud base starts off low at 2,500’. It slowly rises as we mill about near cloud base (FAR definition, of course) waiting for the 12:30start time. Now the issue becomes do we wait for a later start gate hoping that the day will improve – increase in thermal strength, or do we go early, hoping to avoid the chance of over development and the day being shut down.

There are fluffy cu’s ever where and we are ever so slowly drifting down wind toward the start circle (3 miles for rigid wings, 5 miles for flex wings). We stay in the light lift because we are already as high as we can safely and legally go and no one is showing us any better stuff. The decision of when to go will come down to a matter of group psychology.

As twelve thirtyapproaches the flex wings are gaggling up at 5 miles north of the Ranch while the rigids are near their start circle circumference at 3 miles to the north. Will the flex wing pilots bolt out on course, will the rest of the rigid wings go for the early start time hoping to get the early departure bonus points?

Yup, almost all the rigid wings go for the first start time, so it is a good idea to hang with the main gaggle. Also, the lift is falling apart in our location. But, when we get out near the 5 mile circle, we see that a lot of the flex wing pilots have held back. Maybe it is time to stay instead.

We work our way in the plentiful if light lift back upwind to the 3 mile start circle, and I believe almost every rigid wing pilot takes the 12:45start time. Manfred Ruhmer has taken the 12:30start time so he’s out in front and not to be seen.

Since we rigid wing pilots are two miles behind the flex wing pilots, we’ve got them spotting a few thermals for us, at least giving us some idea of the lines. This makes the running a bit more comfortable and no one is waiting around for better lift.

I hook up with Chris Zimmerman whose quite identifiable in his black WW Talon just south of Lake Louise and we climb out at a healthy 400+ fpm to all of 3,200’ AGL (AGL is all there is a round here with the ground level at 100 fpm at the Ranch at 200’ at the ‘ridge’).

We fly right across the LakeMinnehahajust to the north finding lift on both sides of it. You might as well fly across the lakes here in Floridaas there are so many and often you’ll see the swirls on the surface marking the rising air.

With all the rain from the previous day, the Floridaair that we all who come here come for has finally returned. It is like riding on pilots as we thermal up with nary a nasty bump. George Ferris and I will get together later and say just how much we appreciate the return of this wonderful air.

I’m on my second ATOS-C flight and I’m feeling great. The first flight wasn’t all that pleasant as the mixing air continued to make the ATOS-C into a nervous glider and me into a nervous pilot. Now I was in my elements and really feeling out the lift.

I’m flying with John Vernon’s T-tail and we are still discussing just at which angle it should be set. Felix is stating that as the keel is 5 degrees below the cord line, the tail in this case should be set at 5 degrees to the keel with the nose higher. I didn’t notice any drag penalty today.

The ATOS-C and ATOS pilots are flying like a pack of wolves jumping with thermal to thermal, ignoring flex wings and basically moving along very quickly and competitively. There seem to be very few pilots out on the course given how many appeared to have started. Maybe they held back some.

I’ve got Alex Ploner and Christian Chiech out in front of me a ways, Johan Posch and other ATOS pilots in the neighborhood. Johann and I are on the radio with Felix and Alex so we’re doing some communication, but it often hard to understand.

While it looks like it might be weak near the turnpoint, with lots of pilots down low, I get a good thermal 4 miles out, and take the turnpoint with plenty of altitude and race to catch up with whoever might be in front. By now it is has dwindled to Manfred who started 15 minute early, Christian, and Alex. I’m coming right behind with Johann and a few ATOSes in tow.

I’m kind of shocked to see that we’ve blown by every flex wing but Manfred. Now we’re heading up wind so we bunch up a bit more and it is possible to get a reckoning on whose where and to keep better track of things.

The lift is improving which is nice since it will help with the up wind leg. The clouds are still not growing too high and there is plenty of sun on the ground. With lots of pilots in the air it has been great getting so many helpful hints about where to find lift, so now those of us in front are most definitely on our own. I’m glad that I’m back behind a few pilots and think my chances of catching them is good.

I’m a little concerned because I didn’t carry any ballast as I was worried about extremely light conditions. Now we are going into a head wind and I’m wishing I had it.

Alex takes a track to the east along highway 27 and gets low. I follow to the west finding some lift, but not enough to catch up with Manfred and Christian. I pass up some lift marked by one ATOS, and that is a mistake as I have to take lighter lift. Johann who is two miles behind is able to catch me along with another ATOS pilot. Small mistakes are costly.

We climb and then go on a long glide crossing highway 474 15 miles out from the Ranch. I inadvertently leave my flaps on and notice that I’m not gliding nearly as well at the two ATOSes just in front of me. I get down to 1,500’ over the woods and wonder what they gotten me into when Johann calls up and says he’s got some lift. It’s great to here. When I start to thermal to see what my second mistake is, leaving the flaps on.

Johann and the other ATOS pilot climb out above me and go to goal. I have to find another thermal to get to 3,000’ and then go on final glider over the trees. The flex wing pilots (other than Manfred) are not too far behind me now, so I’ve got no time to stop and sample the lift.

It’s nip and tuck, but I come in at about 100 feet with my pod open and the gap in the trees at the end of the field approaching as I cross the line low and land.

There in the corner of the field is Robin Hamilton’s broken Swift. He pounded it in a little too hard after breaking a weaklink at launch and took out some of the undercarriage. He had to switch to his Laminar and switch into Class 1 for the meet. Looks like he is repairing it tonight. Brian Porter is now alone in Class 2.

Later Jim Lamb will come in his brand new ATOS-C and smack right into a windsock pole. Major damage, but with Felix and Christof from AIR here, it looks like it can be fixed. We’ll have to bring in David Prentice to sew the sail.

Another ATOS comes in and a keel is broken on landing. We’ll see how fast that gets fixed.

I realize that I haven’t had much to say about the flex wings other than Manfred who was out in front until the end when Christian Ciech caught him (starting 15 minutes behind him in the Stratos with the AIR control frame). With so many rigid wings in the air I concentrated on them to determine where my friendly competition was and how they were doing. Unlike in AustraliaI just didn’t get an opportunity to pick out all the flex wings and check on their progress.

The rains did come and thoroughly soaked the ground. There are many pilots staying here in tents so hopefully they didn’t get too wet. It appeared as though all pilots made goal or landed long before the sprinkles at 4:30and heavy rains at 6:15 PM.

I don’t have scores yet. I spoke with Peter Gray, the scorekeeper and he is quite impressed with Compe-GPS and its integration with Race. The GPS downloads are going well with the USB to four serial port box. Peter still has quite a bit of work in front of him tonight. In the morning you should be able to find the latest scores at: http://www.elltel.net/peterandlinda/Wallaby_Open_2002/Wallaby.htm

Discuss "Wallaby Open – rain, rain, rain" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Campbell Bowen goes to Georgia

Thu, Apr 11 2002, 3:00:02 am GMT

André Wolfe|Campbell Bowen|George Ferris

Campbell Bowen took advantage of the strong southeasterly winds on Tuesday (the tug pilots reported 30 mph at 1000’) to fly into Georgia from Quest Air. He didn’t get started until late (1 PM) when the winds actually died down some.

He was stopped by the clouds from an approaching front which we all knew were there. That didn’t stop Bowen, but it kept the rest of us from trying earlier in the day. I should have gone for a Falcon 2 flight.

Andre Wolfe and George Ferris here went later around 4 PM and landed a little after 6 PM going 70 miles.

Discuss "Campbell Bowen goes to Georgia" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Sky full of cu’s

Sun, Mar 17 2002, 12:00:00 pm EST

George Ferris|Mike Barber

But some pilots reported the air to be rough. George Ferris felt fine on his ATOS. But the flex wing guys were complaining about high pressured out thermals. I felt fine in the Superfloater.

The task was set at Fantasy of Flight, 474/33, 474/27, back to the Ranch. With a good 11 knot wind straight out of the east this was a difficult task, especially on the cross wind legs. You could go up wind fine, just get under a cloud street.

Mike Barber was the first pilot in the air before it looked good, but it got good right then and we all got up. Tasks are being set in order to train pilots who are going to be flying in the upcoming competitions. Some folks down here are taking this seriously.

Keeping Rigid Wings Cool & Strong

Tue, Mar 12 2002, 12:00:07 pm EST

carbon fiber|Davis Straub|Florida|George Ferris|Ian Duncan|Jaime Ruiz|record|Wallaby Ranch

Jaime Ruiz «jaimeruiz111» writes:

Ian Duncan from Moyes wrote (OzReport.com/Ozv6n30.htm) that the hot Florida sun would bring rigid wing’s carbon fiber structures to over 160°F, even under the cover of your white sail. This temperature would weaken the epoxy in the carbon fiber corner tapes that the aeronautical designer Felix Ruhle recommended and I used to strengthen my Atos (OzReport.com/Ozv6n28.htm), Ian claims, rendering them useless. Given Ian’s ominous assertions, I decided to do some minimal research into epoxy Tg, and a quick and cheap, but effective test of temperature differentials inside the sails in the Florida sun.

Epoxy Tg

Tg, or the “glass transition temperature,” is the temperature (actually a temperature “range”) at which the cured epoxy will begin to significantly compromise its physical properties of consistency, hardness, shear strength, tension strength, compression strength, flexural strength, etc. Epoxies cured at room temperature have a maximum Tg of 60-65oC regardless of their hardener ratios, or up to 90oC with a post-cure at 60oC heat for 2 hours. To get an epoxy to develop a Tg over 90oC it needs to be cured for hours in a specially built high-heat oven. However, you can post-cure your resin structure with heat lamps under a tarp, or even expose just the black carbon tape to the hot sun for two hours the day after. This will increase the Tg when cured, and make the resin structure stronger.

Aircraft Spruce (877-477-7823) sells E-Z Poxy 83 or 84 with these characteristics. Epo-Tek (1-800-227-2201, www.epotek.com) makes and sells an epoxy (#301-2, $40/16 oz) for structural parts with a Tg of 194°F, a 3-1 resin-to-hardener ratio and an 8 hr pot life. This #301-2 epoxy cures in 2-3 days at room temperature. If you look hard and ask the right questions, you’ll find other good ones too.

Is unfortunate that Ian Duncan did not share with us the epoxy name that Moyes uses, its physical characteristics, Tg cure temperature or technique, cost, or distributor’s name. Ian also forgot to mention that the curing of epoxy carbon fiber parts with a professionally heated oven is a technique only available to manufacturers due to its high cost. Manufacturers have the clams to buy expensive ovens and cure many parts simultaneously, bringing their curing cost-per-unit down. The high cost to buy an oven or make a single cure is totally prohibitive at this time for individual rigid wing owners. My simple room temperature resin cure imitated the home brewed “manufacturing conditions” that individual rigid-wing owners would use to strengthen their D-spars, should they choose to do so. That was the practical reason for using a room temperature cure on my carbon fiber corner tapes.

Sun Heat Experiment:

I got three round 6” diameter outside-thermometers from Wal Mart ($3 each), set up my Atos, and taped one thermometer to each wing D-spar, inside the sail, between the 4th and 5th ribs. (Note the spoiler wire in front of the thermometer.) The third thermometer I kept for outside temperature readings in the shade under a wing. I left the left wing with the standard sail for comparison purposes (and because I was also tuning the spoiler cord, replacing a fish cam, etc.). But I covered the right wing sail top with Energy Shield 200, a heat reflective, silver laminated fabric, manufactured and sold by Bruin Plastics (1-800-5566-7764). (I bought ES back in October of 2001, when I still had Davis Straub’s older Atos, realizing the need to protect the black carbon fiber of my Atos from high temperatures when out in the sun.)

Energy Shield

ES is a waterproof, highly reflective, silver laminated thermal barrier, 10 oz/sqyd fabric used for airplane windshield covers to reflect radiated heat out and keep the instruments cooler inside the cockpit; for pizza bags to reflect heat in and keep the pizzas hot for delivery (next time you order a pizza for delivery that’s the material in the bag), and for many other thermal barrier uses. It is made by BRUIN PLASTICS (1-800-556-7764) who also sells directly to the public. (If asked, some pilots may want to state that their purpose is to cover an airplane windshield, since I have been told that Bruin might be reluctant to sell to hang glider owners for liability reasons.)

With the Energy Shield cover I protect my Atos from the sun and rain when left in the open for several days at Wallaby Ranch or elsewhere. This stuff reflects light and heat so much that you literally cannot look at it straight when out in the sun. Looking at ES is almost like looking at the sun reflecting on a mirror, forcing you to squint and look elsewhere presto. I bought 25 yd (54” wide) for $175, cut about 14 yd for both wings, and in half-hour made two wing top covers with nothing but sticky-back Velcro from Home Depot, scissors, and a measuring tape. (You can cover two Atos with 25 yd. But a full roll has 100 yd and they wouldn’t sell me less than 25 yd.) Since the Velcro snaps on and off very fast, these wing covers are very easy to use and convenient. I left the bottom of the wings open so that the air would move under the wing instead of accumulating hot air inside, heating the carbon fiber not only by radiation but also by convection. (I used 7 more yd of ES and some Velcro tapes to make a cocoon or sock for my Atos in its wooden cradle when transporting it on my car roof.)

Data Results:

On March 8th, after having the Atos out in the Florida sun for two hours, these were the recorded temperatures at3 pm in the afternoon Florida sun:

Shaded Outside Air Temperature82°F
Inside Atos Wing93°F
Inside Atos Wing W/energy Shield87°F
Temperature Differential5°F

(Unfortunately the testing conditions were not perfect since it is March, the air temperature is relatively cool, and not July-August, the peak of theFlorida heat. But, like most instances in life, you do the best you can with what you have.) As you see, the Energy Shield cut the heat above the air temperature on the standard wing to about half. One can reasonably infer that this temperature differential will grow as the outside temperature increases in the summer, but that remains to be tested again in a hot summer day. A temperature differential of up to 25oF cooler (under the Energy Shield) in the summer months is realistic. Testing again in the hotter more vertical sun of the summer would give us data closer to the worst heat conditions, but the conclusions should remain the same.

Conclusions:

1) Energy Shield, a silver laminated reflective heat barrier, is very effective in keeping the carbon fiber protected from the sun’s rays, and is particularly useful when you leave your rigid wing out during the hot summer days in areas likeAustralia,Florida, the Owens’s Valley, and Zapata, Texas.

2) Using such thermal barrier while standing under the sun, and taking it off just prior to takeoff, will keep your carbon fiber D-spar as cool as possible. (Try not to place your rigid on a heat reflective surface such as asphalt or concrete because you will also increase the heat below the wing due to reflected radiation. When possible, grass is best.) Using this thermal barrier virtually guarantees that the structural integrity of your D-spar—and, in my case, the epoxy and carbon fiber corner tapes—will remain relatively cool, strong and effective, regardless of the sun’s heat rays above.

3) You may find other competitive reflective laminates such as Bruce Custom Covers, but they are very expensive and don’t sell the material by itself, only the end product. At Wallaby Ranch, George Ferris has built Atos covers and sells them, although I don’t know the properties of the material. (I don’t sell wing covers.)

If you fly a rigid wing, please consider using a tree shade if available, and a highly reflective laminated thermal barrier to cover your wings always, especially in the summer months.

Ian further stated that “Strengthen the spars along their length only and you apply more load at the center junction. Something may still give as you have increased the stiffness and therefore the shock loading.” If the corner tapes shift the loads from the weaker to the stronger structural sections of the glider, then we have certainly succeeded. I am not, nor do I claim to be, an aeronautical engineer or designer, but Felix Ruhle is and very successful at it. Felix’ reinforcing corner tapes have not only a vertical component to strengthen the D-spar against up-down (pos-neg Gs) loads, but also a horizontal component at 90° to the vertical section of the spar. This horizontal component increases the resistance against the drag as well as torsion forces. Therefore, contrary to what some have said, Felix tapes strengthen the D-spar in all four dimensions.

All gliders have a breaking point, no matter how much overly-designed. “Something may still give…” is always true. That statement confuses, and doesn’t add any value. However, the carbon fiber corner tapes that Felix Ruhle recommended to strengthen my Atos-c (OzReport.com/Ozv6n28.htm) does significantly raise the G loads—negative, positive, drag, or torsion—needed to break the D-spars at their proven and most vulnerable breaking points… with a minimum added weight. This is a structural fact of significant safety value given freely only for your evaluation and well being, without any competing, self-serving, commercial purpose or conflict of interest on my part. Could such post-manufacturing room temperature epoxy cure and carbon fiber strengthening of the D-spars be improved and made cheaper, faster, lighter, stronger, less susceptible to summer heat and generally speaking better through improved design and more sophisticated manufacturing techniques? Yes, of course.

Aeronautical designers face a challenging balancing act—the most strength for the least weight, or the most bang for their buck, if you will. They also want to constantly improve their original designs as more and better data surfaces with the hundreds of rigid wings flying out there. Designers are inventors at heart. Constant improvement with newer and better prototypes is the name of their game. Look at A-I-R web site and you will see the “constant improvement” or Kaizen philosophy that Felix built into its corporate mission. I am sure that the rigid wings sold three years from now will be stronger, faster, safer, and better than today’s. We, as pilots, can add value to the process and accelerate its improvement rate by giving valuable data, ideas, and feedback to the designers. But… are we not to take improvement steps today because tomorrow will (always) bring us a better hindsight, or someone else will eventually do it better? Oh, come on!! Fear not but fear itself.

Discuss "Keeping Rigid Wings Cool & Strong" at the Oz Report forum   link»   »

How about single surface contest?

Mon, Mar 11 2002, 1:00:03 am GMT

George Ferris|Michael "Hollywood" Champlin|Mike Barber|Pete Lehman|Rob Kells

I got a chance to fly a Wills Wing Falcon 170 for a couple of hours on Saturday. It sure was a lot easier to fly than my former Will Wing Falcon 225. In fact it was great flying it and sneaking up on George Ferris in his ATOS. Well, he did figure out it was me, not some inexperienced Falcon pilot

I’m not gripping the bar any tighter than usual, but then this is a glider than has never tucked or tumbled according to Rob Kells. The air was great, but I’m given to understand that the lift was quite strong in some places. I was using a Sonic IQ vario (which I do whenever I’m not racing) so I didn’t have a visual readout of the lift.

Heck, I’m often scared when I’m flying a hang glider just from the hang glider’s actions, and I didn’t seem any more scared than usual. We’ll see later how I fell on an ATOS.

Yes, the Falcon has a relatively terrible glide so it is a lot more difficult to search a wide area for lift, but then there was plenty of lift so it wasn’t a problem on this day. The Wallaby Ranch was jumping with Mike Barber flying up to the CtrusTowerthan back down to the Fantasy of Flight then over to the Ranch and then back out again. Later the sea breeze kicked in.

Heard they had some moderately good flights up at Quest also.

Serge has been flying the Moyes Litesport a lot. Plenty of Ranch regulars were here flying up a storm.

Oh, there is a single surface contest. It is the Michael Champlin Cross Country Contest. See the graphic down at the bottom of this page. Pete Lehman did very well in 2001 in his Falcon.

Discuss "How about single surface contest?" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Ride the pony

Sat, Mar 9 2002, 2:00:02 am EST

Florida|George Ferris|Quest Air|sailplane|Steve Kroop|Wallaby Ranch|weather

Florida|George Ferris|John "Ole" Olson|Quest Air|sailplane|Steve Kroop|Wallaby Ranch|weather

(?-i)John "Ole" Olson|Florida|George Ferris|Quest Air|sailplane|Steve Kroop|Wallaby Ranch|weather

Florida|George Ferris|John "Ole" Olson|Quest Air|sailplane|Steve Kroop|Wallaby Ranch|weather

I had a few sailplane flights before the weather deteriorated and today I had too flights in a WW Falcon 170. It’s hard going from a rigid wing to a single surface glider and it was all over the place on my first tow. The PIO’s were pretty out of control and I was yawing from side and to side as I tried to remember my flex wing timing.

The second flight was better with hardly any PIO and I landed on my feet quite nicely instead of using the really big black plastic wheels. Not really the horse yet, but at least a pony – and a harder thing to fly at that.

The weather in Floridahas finally improved and there was a lot of flying today at Wallaby Ranch. Here’s what the sky looked like. There was quite a bit of wind out of the east but it looks like it is going southeast tomorrow and converging.

George Ferris lands his ATOS and comes back to the Pole Barn in time for lunch.

Still no ATOS or other rigid wing here for me to fly, but I might take Steve Kroop up on his offer to go up to Quest Air on Friday and fly an Exxtacy. The Senior National Sailplane Competition starts on Saturday at Seminole-Lake glider port, so I think I try to stay out of their hair.

Mike Water has a nice Superfloater here and I can fly that also.

ATOS CG = Hang point

Sat, Mar 9 2002, 2:00:01 am EST

George Ferris|Matt Kollman

George Ferris and I hung his ATOS (not ATOS-C but that shouldn’t matter for this measurement) from a tree branch with a strap. We found the balance point by moving the strap (2 inches wide) until the glider hung level. The balance point was about ½ to 1 inch in front of the apex bracket.

The ATOS pilot hang point is just in front of this balance point by about an inch. It appears as though Matt Kollman’s concerns about the balance point of the ATOS (and Exxtacy) are misplaced. The hang point and the empty balance point of the ATIS appear to be very close. I think we can forget Ass In Front as an explanation of an ATOS tuck.

Break those Carbon Dragons

Mon, Mar 4 2002, 11:00:02 am EST

Carbon Dragon|Florida|Gary Osoba|George Ferris|Wallaby Ranch

The other day here at Wallaby Ranch Steve Arndt broke his Carbon Dragon when he didn’t put in the bottom bolts that connected the wing to the fuselage. George Ferris and I were engaged in quite a discussion with him at the time that he was putting the wings on and just as he was about to put the bottom bolts in we talked about how many bolts were needed.

Steve is a very meticulous guy and was obviously very embarrassed that he could make such a mistake. He rolled down the grass field behind the tug and when he got some speed, the wing lifted off, ripping out some bulkhead materials, and rotated over the top of the fuselage. Steve thankfully never got off the ground.

Two Carbon Dragons built and two damaged. I’ve been “involved” in both of incidents that damaged both Carbon Dragons.

Steve hopes to get it repaired soon. Gary Osoba has a standing invite to come down and fly it in Floridaand he’d like to come down each month for the Flytec Championship.

Steve is working on a new fuselage that will allow him to include two quarter scale RC motors that will provide ten horse power each. Enough to launch.

Spinning the ATOS

Sun, Jan 27 2002, 10:00:04 pm EST

George Ferris|sailplane|Worlds

On the second day of the Bogong Cup, OliverSchmidt spun his ATOS at goal and wasn't even aware of it. A bunch of pilots saw what happened and all agreed that he had in fact spun the ATOS about an eighth of a revolution quite low as he was about to land. Oliver had no idea.

Oliver came across goal and set up an approach doing a high banked and quick turn. He threw the glide control frame to one side and pushed out hard. The glider quickly rotated (spun) and he got it around 180 degrees for his final approach at about 100 feet, or perhaps less.

Oliver has stated that he has done this many many times on his ATOS. He also stated some very interesting words. He said that he had a lot of speed.

Of course, speed is not the issue with a stall and the subsequent spin. High speeds hide the fact that you are stalling or about to stall and spin. The only factor that determines whether you stall or not is your angle of attack. In a high-banked turn the speed at which you stall increases at least 40% if not more (depending on your bank angle and assuming 60 degrees for a high bank turned.)

Oliver thought he was safe from a stall because he had a lot of speed. He was wrong. He stalled and spun and didn't even know it.

It is very dangerous to do high-banked turns near the ground. On the ATOS you just can't whip it around without having a very high chance of stalling and spinning it (even a quick spin with only a little rotation). I did the same thing coming into landing at the Worlds in Italy.

Now, ask George Ferris about doing hang banked turns near the ground. He took out both his leading edges going through the trees doing these.

If you push out hard and are in a high bank you will be going at less than your minimum stall speed even if you enter the turn with plenty of speed and you will stall and spin the glider.

You can read all about it in Stick and Rudder. This is a major cause of death in sailplanes.

George Ferris – back in the air »

Fri, Dec 7 2001, 7:00:07 pm EST

Dragonfly|George Ferris|Malcolm Jones

Oz Report readers may remember my report on George Ferris and his little accident – launching unhooked behind the Dragonfly at Zapata. George wrote me this week to tell me that he is at Wallaby and has had six good flights (it has been amazing down there of late) and is feeling fine. Malcolm Jones also reports that George is looking good.

Checking your friends when they get hurt

Fri, Aug 10 2001, 4:00:06 pm EDT

Brett Snellgrove|Davis Straub|George Ferris|USHGA

Brett Snellgrove writes:

Regarding George Ferris' unfortunate accident there are a few points that need clarification. The protrusion of the cervical disc onto his spinal cord is certainly a serious situation that warrants immediate surgical intervention. Pilots using the simple Babinski procedure can test this in the field. Run a pen firmly under the foot from heel to toe, if the toes fan out rather than curl under, the chord could be compromised.

Secondly, a posterior approach to surgery is almost never used for cervical disc protrusions impinging on the spinal cord as the disc cannot be accessed in this manner without removing a large amount of bone structure that stabilizes the spine. Typically, an anterior approach is used, the disc is partially removed, and a wedge block of bone positioned in the disc space to fuse the segment (anterior interbody cervical fusion after Robinson and Cloward).

Additional instrumentation may be used to stabilize any bone fractures. A more recent procedure uses a titanium cage, with bone and marrow fragments inside to fuse the spine, and is screwed into the disc space. It is a superior technique in the hands of a skilled and trained surgeon however failure rates resulting in pseudo arthrodesis (false bone fusion) have been higher than with other techniques. (The use of bone growth factors appear to improve this problem.) This is probably the procedure George describes.

  Proud Supporter of:

 

 

To unsubscribe or subscribe

You are in charge of your subscription to the Oz Report. If you wish to unsubscribe or subscribe, click: http://pop3.olsusa.com/guest/RemoteListSummary/ozreport

To view the Oz Report on the web go to https://OzReport.com/.

Davis Straub
co-author of Windows Me Secrets
"I gotta tell you; you took a total moron and turned me into a guru! I couldn't have done it without your books!"
davis@davisstraub.com
http://www.davisstraub.com/secrets

A few personal comments about ⁢George Ferris⁣'s accident »

Mon, Jul 30 2001, 5:00:04 pm EDT

George Ferris

First, I was in the air flying when it happened so I didn't see George not hook in.

Second, the day before I noticed that George put on his harness before he hooked into the glider. I always hook my harness to the glider and then put it on. The one time that I unhooked my harness from the glider I foot launched aerotowing unhooked.

Third, George broke his rule of never flying for the media.

Fourth, George was very stubborn after the accident and refused to stay bound on the board that was supposed to keep him immobile. As we can see now, this might have lead to his permanent paralysis.

Fifth, like many people George denied that he was hurt as badly as he was. He wanted things to be all right for himself and for everyone around him. He didn’t want to be a burden or dependent on others even though he was in fact badly hurt. He wanted to will himself to be all right.

Sixth, George probably suffered a concussion as he had a significant loss of short-term memory. His mental state and judgment were adversely effected by his injuries. He became belligerent and difficult to treat properly.

While the medical people may be over reacting and scaring you will their precautions when they treat you after an accident, you might think about George's example and give them the benefit of the doubt until someone who really knows what they are doing looks at your MRI.

Discuss "A few personal comments about ⁢George Ferris⁣'s accident" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

George Ferris on the mend

Mon, Jul 30 2001, 5:00:03 pm EDT

George Ferris

George Ferris «ferris_g» foot launched unhooked in Zapata. This is his story of his medical situation:

After much thought I've decided to post about the extent of my injuries from my mistake of not hooking wile foot launching aerotowing. At first I wasn't going to post anymore about the accident because I didn't want people calling or emailing me to tell me they felt sorry for me. That's the last thing I wanted to hear, feeling that I would recover fully.

But now knowing that there has been other incidents of pilots launching unhooked foot launching aerotowing with out any serious consequences I felt it was necessary to make pilots aware that serious damage and possible death can occur unhooked launching this way. If this post stops even one pilot from not making the mistake that I made it will be worth it.

Initially I was transported to the Laredo hospital strapped on a board. A few days after leaving the Laredo Hospital the tingling in my hands disappeared, but I began loosing the use of my hands and arms. Gini, my wife, came to my rescue shortly after my accident. She phoned her sister, a nurse in Waco, Texas where they have a trauma center and told her what was happening to me.

She had us drive to her house in Waco. Shortly after arriving she got me into the MRI center at 11 PM that night. The next morning I met with Dr. Hamilton, the most respected neurosurgeon at the center. Dr Hamilton wasted no time in telling that I needed emergency neck surgery.

Showing me the MRI he explained that my spinal cored had been damaged by two disks that had dislodged and slid back onto the cord. He further explained that in my condition if I was to move my neck the wrong way or bump me head I would become paralyzed from the neck down. He explained that for him it was a simple operation seeing he done this procedure six thousand before.

In the next breath he was adamant that if I wasn't going to have him do the operation that no mater what other neurosurgeons told me he said "DO NOT LET THEM PERFORM THIS OPERATION THOUGH THE BACK OF YOUR NECK". "If someone was to attempt this operation from the back of my neck I would most likely end up paralyzed". When I heard that I said when can you do it.

I was in the operating room the next day from 1pm to 3:30 PM and out of the hospital the next morning at 11:30 without even a neck brace. Dr Hamilton had mounted a titanium brace inside my neck onto the area damaged. It was as amazing to me then as it must be to you know that I walked out of the hospital the next day.

Two weeks have gone by since the operation and I am recovering quickly . I have already gained back 50 % of the use of my hands and arms. It will be another two weeks before I can do any exercise but I expect to be in better shape by October that I was before I left for Zapata.

Morel to this story, Some times when there is no doubt there should be. No matter how adamant you are about checking and making sure you are hooked in you can make a mistake. Under stand that I consider my self very adamant, ask anyone that has flown with me. I always yell out that I'm not hooked in as I approach launch to do so, as I did that day walking out onto the runway, and I always holler out that I'm hooked in.

It was just a 30-second distraction from the cameraman as I got to the launch area that caused me to forget. The answer is always to have a spotter to check you out before you launch which from now on is a must for me. That way you won't make the one mistake that I did that could be your last.

I wish to thank Gini for all her help through my difficulty of the last few weeks, she made it easy for me. Thanks Gini. Also thank you Pam, Dr Hamilton, the pilots & rescue team in Zapata for your help and Don the driver Bushy for driving my Truck home.

Discuss "George Ferris on the mend" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

2001 Flytec World Record Encampment »

Fri, Jul 6 2001, 3:00:00 pm EDT

Flytec World Record Encampment 2001|George Ferris|Paris Williams|record

Flytec World Record Encampment 2001|George Ferris|Paris Williams|record|World Record Encampment

Bo Hagewood|Flytec World Record Encampment 2001|George Ferris|Paris Williams|record|World Record Encampment

Bo Hagewood|Flytec World Record Encampment 2001|George Ferris|Paris Williams|record|World Record Encampment

 

First the bad news. George Ferris foot launched unhooked on Friday. He ran fast down the asphalt runway, the glider picked up, then went in nose first into the runway. George went headfirst into the glider.

James Stinnett ran to him and found a headless body. He started looking around for George's head, then realized it was inside the sail still attached to George's body. George had plowed into his sail just to the right of the keel.

The glider nosed into the runway because George's bridle pulled down on the control bar as the glider rose up. The whack tube absorbed all of the crash, just as it was designed to do, and there was only sail damage to the glider (tear in the bottom of the sail).

We sent George to the medical clinic where he refused all treatment, that he possibly could. (Hang glider pilots are really stubborn and think they are invincible.) He broke a few teeth and had a concussion. We made him stay in the hospital in Laredo overnight for observation. We'll pick him up today.

On Friday cu's started forming at 7:34 AM, but they were thin and going at only about 10-15 mph out of the south-southeast. They didn't street up nor thicken. By 9:15 there were only a few left.

I had decided to launch at 9:20. My plan was to tow to 6,500', glide for 30 minutes, and then worked the weak lift that should be available by then. I figured with a predicted top of the lift at 2,200' around 10, that I would have enough altitude to up my chances of staying up until the clouds returned.

With light winds I was only able to glide at 50 mph over the ground, so I was 25 miles out before I got low enough to be under the top of the lift. I could start feeling the lift at about 2,500', but I got down to 900'.

For the next half hour I worked light lift to just stay in the air and to also keep from landing a long ways from a paved road without a locked gate. I just drifted over a lot of landscape that I didn't want to land in, waiting for the day to get better.

 

My climb rates between 10 and 10:30.

The clouds didn't reform as I worked lift less than 300 fpm until 11:15 AM. At that point, 60 miles out, I decided that the clouds weren't going to reform, that I wouldn't be able to get 100 miles by noon, and that I should land and find a better day.

The clouds didn't form during the day and we had our bluest day yet here. I had decided to land on a previous day when I got into the blue, but there were clouds forming behind me. On that day Mark went 369 miles. So I was a bit concerned about whether I was making the right decision.

Saturday was a repeat of Friday. The winds are a good direction and reasonably strong, but the cu's dissipated right away. We are wondering just where is that moist Gulf air. Only Jim Neff and I are flying and the rest are cherry picking (which actually is what one should be doing here if one wants to set the record).

Bo Hagewood and Paris Williams are here now. Paris left Bo accidentally in Ocala, not realizing that Bo had left the car. The state police had to track him down a hundred miles later and Paris had no notion of why he was being stopped.

2001 Flytec World Record Encampment »

Tue, Jul 3 2001, 6:00:00 pm EDT

André Wolfe|David Glover|Flytec World Record Encampment 2001|George Ferris|Kari Castle|Kathleen Rigg|Manfred Ruhmer|record|Tom Pierce

The publisher of the local newspaper, the Zapata County News, threw a picnic for us at the airport, fixing deviled eggs, and grilling hot dogs and burgers. We got him to dish the dirt on the going ons of the last forty years in Zapata for an hour or so until the sun got too hot.

The conditions improved today after a couple of days of mixed rain and clouds. In the early afternoon George Ferris, Tom Pierce and Ben Easton took off and quickly climbed to over 4,000 under nice cu's. Winds were light.

We expect Manfred and Kathleen Rigg to show up soon, maybe tomorrow. Andre Wolf won't be here until Tuesday next. Kari Castle is still in Chelan, but should get here early next week.

We are going to a barbeque out at the Ranch of the former head of Human Services for the state of Texas this evening. We are local celebrities.

David Glover went into a local shop to get some help, He was talking to the owners for a while and mentioned that wed set a new world record here in Zapata. They came back with, "You mean someone has gone longer than 347 miles?"

We are thinking about a third session starting on July 22nd. Maybe going for a week or ten days. A number of folks in the second session have mentioned that they want to stay for an extra week or so. If you are interested, contact me at the address below.

 

Foot-launched aerotowing in Zapata (David Glover, photographer)

A correction from an earlier Oz Report. The Zapata County Airport is not closed just for our use. The report I received was mistaken. Of course, there have been only three airplanes land at the airport over the last eleven days.

2001 Flytec World Record Encampment »

Mon, Jul 2 2001, 6:00:00 pm EDT

David Glover|Flytec World Record Encampment 2001|George Ferris|Kent Robinson|record|weather

David Glover|Flytec World Record Encampment 2001|George Ferris|Kent Robinson|record|weather|World Record Encampment

David Glover|Flytec World Record Encampment 2001|George Ferris|Ken Brown|Kent Robinson|record|weather|World Record Encampment

David Glover|Flytec World Record Encampment 2001|George Ferris|Ken Brown|Kent Robinson|record|weather|World Record Encampment

Last Saturday Kent Robinson flew 186 miles beating his previous personal best set a few days earlier. George Ferris has showed up and we expect James Stinnet soon.

Rain on Monday. The locals are very impressed with our rain making capabilities. We also brought rain on Sunday. The most rain around here in many months.

Here is the radar map for early morning on Monday. The most weather in the country was in south Texas.

 

We still haven't seen the over powering super conditions that we expected here in Zapata. Looks like most days we can only fly 200+ miles or so. Things should improve by the end of the week.

Mark wrote a little about his record flight. You can find it athttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/HangGlide. He writes:

These days I am taking it easy and not flying and waiting for someone to break it and then I give it another try. It sure wouldn't be fun to break my own record :-)

A couple of corrections. Dave Barnhart flew a Vision Mark IV 102 miles and his previous best flight was 97 miles.

Ken Brown, USA distributor for Moyes, thinks that Kevin's 130 miles for a Moyes Sonic (his sixth XC flight) may be the record for that glider. He also writes:

At our Region 2 Wild Wild West Regionals I set the new fast time for the McClellan Peak to Silver Springs Airport run. I beat out Rich Sauers time of 54 min by a full 10 min! I was on a Litespeed 5 with 30 lbs of ballast racing against Rich Burton on a Laminair! Good sport this hang gliding.

 

Aerotowing launching before 9 AM (David Glover photographer)

Pre-Meets

Wed, Apr 11 2001, 5:00:00 pm EDT

Brett Hazlett|Carbon Dragon|carbon fiber|Chris Arai|Florida|George Ferris|Ghostbuster|Manfred Ruhmer|Martin Harri|Martin Henry|Mike Barber|photo|Quest Air|sailplane|weather

Brett Hazlett|Carbon Dragon|carbon fiber|Chris Arai|Florida|George Ferris|Ghostbuster|John "Ole" Olson|Manfred Ruhmer|Martin Harri|Martin Henry|Mike Barber|photo|Quest Air|sailplane|weather

(?-i)John "Ole" Olson|Brett Hazlett|Carbon Dragon|carbon fiber|Chris Arai|Florida|George Ferris|Ghostbuster|Manfred Ruhmer|Martin Harri|Martin Henry|Mike Barber|photo|Quest Air|sailplane|weather

Brett Hazlett|Carbon Dragon|carbon fiber|Chris Arai|Florida|George Ferris|Ghostbuster|John "Ole" Olson|Manfred Ruhmer|Martin Harri|Martin Henry|Mike Barber|photo|Quest Air|sailplane|weather

Day after day of perfectly soarable weather. Cumulus clouds everywhere. Light winds. And lots of competition pilots here checking out their equipment and taking advantage of the conditions. We've been calling tasks and a whole group of pilots will fly together – just like a meet, but cheaper.

Four new Wills Wing prototypes came today. One came yesterday. Production models will be available in six weeks – they ordered the hardware (no longer cutting one offs in the factory) so, as they say, at least that part of the glider is fixed. Looks like there may sill be a few tweaks on the final design that come out of pilots' experiences here in Florida.

Gerolf is here at Wallaby. He along with Mike Barber and Brett Hazlett are fitting WW control frames to one Litespeed after another (they haven't finished making the Moyes carbon fiber control frame). Sugarman just brought in a bag of nicos for the 2 mm (or was it 1.5 mm) wires that they need to fix the control frames.

The Austrians are here and all they had to do was assemble their Laminars. Manfred has 1.5 mm front and back wires on his WW control frame, but they were all the way down to the base tube (well, close). The rest of the Austrians had 2 mm wires. Manfred says they all have to go to 2 mm for the worlds.

We hear that Jim Zeiset had his trailer roll while on the way to Florida. He apparently is still on his way (perhaps even with the trailer). The gliders, which were on the car, seem to be in good shape – and that's what counts.

Mark Mullholland is here at Wallaby with his fully canopied Millennium showing that he's no fool. After he showed up last year to compete in a "faired" but not a canopied Millennium, I wrote that only an idiot would try to compete in Class II in a non canopied Millennium. Guess he took that to heart.

Martin Harri (the Swiss pilot that I linguistically confused in with Canadian pilot Martin Henry in an earlier Oz Report) is here taking a few practice flights.

A couple of days ago we went over a hundred miles to the north at a leisurely pace. I flew for an hour after an 11:30 AM start then landed back at the Ranch and found Chris Arai who was willing to go out and play with me.

The air was rolling with tiny cu's for the first fifty miles until we got to the interchange of I 75 and the Florida turnpike, where it completely changed to solid lift under thick cu's. We flew at a very slow pace, I guess basically because the Litespeed that Chris was flying (in order to get ready to fly the WW prototype) had too much bar pressure. Still it was great to have a very skilled pilot to fly with.

Mark Poustinchan flew 172 miles that day after a late start. Bo mentioned that the clouds seemed to be better to the south than up by Quest. Actually, the clouds where better earlier, but they were better on the south side of I-4.

That day a classic convergence set up (as it was clear that it would from the Windcast). It was really well developed north west of Williston.

I hear that there is just as much activity up at Quest Air in this week before the Flytec Championships as there is here at Wallaby. The Flight Design folks are up there getting the Ghostbuster ready for the big Class II competition (which, of course, could be spoiled by Mark in his ultralight sailplane).

Speaking of sailplanes, Steve Arndt is down here flying his Carbon Dragon. He said that George Ferris was the only hang glider pilot who had been able to core up through him, and I sure wasn't able to. A whole lot of pilots were flying around in this great later evening lift with Steve.

 

 

A custom built ATOS control frame at Quest.

 

Photos by Dave Glover.

Finally the Florida weather we know and love returns

Wed, Apr 4 2001, 3:00:01 pm EDT

Florida|George Ferris|Mark Poustinchian|Mike Barber|Wallaby Ranch|weather

Florida|George Ferris|Kari Castle|Mark Poustinchian|Mike Barber|Wallaby Ranch|weather

Florida|George Ferris|Kari Castle|Mark Poustinchian|Mike Barber|Wallaby Ranch|weather

It has been a terrible late winter in Florida. I doubt that you are sympathetic, but we've had very few good flying days in over seven weeks. Winds mostly. North or northeast winds. Great for wind surfing.

Finally, in the last three days, the unbroken string of fronts coming through Florida has been broken, and we're finally back where we are supposed to be. South winds (or like today, no winds at all), warm days and evenings. The longer-term forecast shows the trend continuing. There is a high pressure off the east coast of Florida and it is keeping away the fronts coming from the northwest.

I've been checking the Kissimmee soundings: http://maps.fsl.noaa.gov/ (Click Interactive (Java), scroll down to check box, type "36" in number of hours, and ISM in Location, click Java-based plots). They have been right on for the last three days, with accurate forecasts for the winds and cloud base.

The new interactive features of these charts are superb. You can point and click to input your forecasted surface temperature and the chart will display the adiabatic. You can pretty well see when you are going to have good lift.

We had a few long flights here yesterday, especially from the folks who went a little later. Mark Poustinchian and Bo got off around 11, but Mark went down near the intersection of I 75 and the Florida turnpike. Bo turned around and flew back to Quest. Greg Dinnaauer took his Millennium almost to the Georgia border from Quest. He didn't have a driver chasing him.

I took off a few minutes after Mark and Bo, but landed west of Quest an hour and ten minutes later, not getting any higher than 2,800'. Kari Castle took off a half-hour later and landed south of Quest. George Ferris on an ATOS, took off forty-five minutes later, and flew until almost sunset, landing almost at the Georgia border for his longest flight of 178 miles. The winds where 5 to 10 miles mph out of the east-southeast here, turning much more south the further north one went.

Pilots who were successful yesterday indicated that the lift was light until about 2 PM, when it turned on.

Today, with no winds, pilots at Wallaby decided on a 49-mile triangle, in order to get a little practice for the upcoming meets. Sugarman, Mike Barber, and I were able to complete the task.

The fire three miles south of Wallaby Ranch on the south side of Interstate 4 continues to burn. Lightening started it, and it appears as though the state is letting it burn as it doesn't threaten any homes and is in a reasonably contained area. There was a lot of smoke today in the area, but that didn't slow down the thermals.

The nice thermals that we associate with Florida have also returned. They are not completely fat, but much better than the rough edged high-pressure thermals we were getting under the northern wind regime.

To give you an idea of how things have been here over the last few days, check out Ken's web site at: www.kenseligman.com.

Tivek Bags

Thu, Mar 29 2001, 3:00:03 pm EST

George Ferris|Wallaby Ranch

George Ferris has made a very limited number of Tivek bags for covering your set up ATOS or Exxtacy (two different bags). They are available at Wallaby Ranch for $285. Contact George at «ferris_g»:

 

Wills Wing Anniversary – a blow and rain out »

Sun, Mar 18 2001, 5:00:03 pm EST

Florida|George Ferris|Mike Meier|Rob Kells|Steve Pearson|Wallaby Ranch|weather|Wills Wing|Wills Wing Anniversary

Well, we did actually have a darn good time, but previous Wills Wing Anniversary parties here at Wallaby Ranch had raised the bar pretty darn high, and this year (a drought year) the weather did not cooperate. Yes, we did get a little flying in, but we are used to (spoiled) so much more.

Personally, I really enjoyed the many opportunities I had to speak with Steve Pearson, Rob Kells and Mike Meier. They weren't as busy as they would have been otherwise (they would have had no time to eat or sleep) so I was able to get a new deployment bag (the day before Joe let go of his). We thoroughly discussed wire size, drag, the results of the wind tunnel tests of the Wills Wing down tubes, the mistakes in the recent Fly and Glide article on hang glider drag reduction, the new prototype, the new Rotor harness, which Wills Wing sells, parachute packing, rubber bands, and bridle length.

Rob was very adamant that your bridle had to be long enough to get out past your wing tip. Of course, you do have to throw the parachute hard enough to get it out there.

Rob used his new rubber bands (the kind that don't melt) to pack my chute into the deployment bag (tucking only one turn of the lines into the rubber band so that they would come out easy).

Plenty of pilots flew. George Ferris stayed up on his ATOS for a couple of hours one day (until he heard the new dinner bell, which can be heard all over the Ranch). Rob brought down 19 demo gliders, which are now going to be spread up and down the East Coast.

Linda Meier at Wills Wing sent out boxes of Wills Wing sweaters and sweatshirts. The first thought was that we needed t-shirts out here in Florida. Turned out, sweaters and sweatshirts were the ticket. Like all WW clothes, these are very nice looking. I suggest picking some up at Wallaby or from WW.

Dan Jester «dan.jester» brought down some of his machined brackets for attaching your Brauniger or Flytec vario to a 22 mil or 19 mil down tube – say like the WW downtubes. These clamps give you extra purchase on the downtube so your vario won't swing from side to side in the wind. Contact Dan. I believe these beauties go for $75/each. I'll put out a photo soon and will test them with by instrument pod.

It rained hard today and that should continue through tomorrow. Very little chance of fires causing any problems during the Florida meets now.

Brand new ATOS

Fri, Mar 16 2001, 3:00:01 pm EST

ATOS|Belinda Boulter|carbon fiber|Florida|George Ferris|Johann Posch|Peter Radman|record

After Joe bounced Belinda and I went over to the Orlando airport and picked up my new ATOS (along with Heiner Bissel's). It was so nice to see that the fork lift drivers had not driven any large holes through the plywood box.

Everyone helps unload the two ATOSes. Mark Forbes photographed

After we got it back to Wallaby, I took the sails off and George Ferris and I examined the carbon fiber for any shipping damage. The new leading edges looked great.

George put a string on the ribs and noted that the first seven are all in a line on each side. Number 8 rib goes down, and number 9 and the wing tip rise up for twist. We found that the number eight on one side was one inch lower than the number eight on the other side. We noted the discrepancy.

After putting the sail back on and doing the full setup, we measured the nose angle by measuring distance down the keel where a tight line attached to the number 9 ribs crosses the keel when the keel is horizontal. Icaro marks this spot with a label (thanks for this improvement) and calls it 2295 millimeters. They must have taken the measurement keeping the tape measure on the keel tubes. We measured it at 2285 millimeters, stretching the tape tight. The new ATOS was right at the factory setting.

This is the only factory setting that we are aware of. It sure would be nice if we knew how to measure the correct angles for the ribs. The first seven should be parallel to the keel.

After all the measurements, I got a chance to take it up in very calm evening air just before sun set. It was great to be in such air because I knew that everything I did to the glider was either me or the glider and not the conditions.

I found that the trim point was just a few inches in front of the top of my head (standard round base tube) with no flaps. With full flaps, the base tube came back to just below my forehead.

There is now a label on the keel showing pilots where to place their hang strap. The region is not very wide, not much bigger that a hang strap width. I left it at the factory location, which had the front edge of the hang strap at the front line of the designated area.

I was able to stall the ATOS by pushing out till about eight inches in front of the top of my helmet. My arms were still cocked, and I had about six or eight inches left is I had really wanted to push out more.

The glider would slowly stall, then there would be a quick increase in force on the base tube which I could feel. Then the nose would drop and the glider would recover from the stall. I tried stalling with no flaps and with full flaps and didn't notice enough difference in location or feel of the stall to tell if there was a difference. I did not attempt to spin the glider.

I tried a number of turns, with moderate banks. I stayed in the turns and tried to see if the glider would wrap up, being spirally unstable. I had experienced this in previous ATOSes in strong thermals, and as I recall, I would have to high side it a bit. After doing this for quite a while, I didn’t notice any tendency for the glider to wrap up.

George had mentioned that if one loosens the other two battens – numbers 8 and 9, that the supposed tendency to wrap up goes away. In the factory setting the number nine rib was the tightest rib and required the use of the cam helper to put it in place.

All the other cams were easy to do by hand, so the sail was not especially tight. I had remembered from earlier ATOSes, that the sail was set really tight at the factory and then expected to stretch a little.

This ATOS is supposed to have different sailcloth than is standard. Last September, when I ordered this ATOS I saw a sailcloth I liked on Johann Posch's ATOS. This is supposed to be the same sailcloth. I won't know for sure until I see Johann's next month at the Florida meets.

I pulled the bar in for speed. How fast, I'm not sure as I was flying without instruments. There was progressive bar pressure as I pulled in. There was quite a bit more bar pressure than I felt on George's ATOS, and about the same as on the stock Stalker. George has increased his nose angle to take away the bar pressure.

George and I are going to swap ATOSes tomorrow and compare and measure, and see what we think. I didn't like the idea of my bar coming back like it did on George's ATOS, but the low bar pressure is nice.

Felix will be here next month (we hear), and we'll go over all this again with him.

Iacro has done a very nice job with this new ATOS and I'm very pleased with it. George's was admiring the nice smooth areas at the tip. I'm happy to see the little improvements – the labels. I appreciate the hard work that Peter Radman at Altair did to get me the glider here at Wallaby.

I'm looking forward to lots of wonderful flights on this new ATOS, winning all the meets I enter, and setting new world records with it. Isn't it great to have exciting goals?

Stalker updates

Mon, Mar 5 2001, 4:00:05 pm EST

George Ferris|Quest Air

G.W. Meadows«gw»writes:

One of the great things about working with Aeros is their willingness to listen to my concerns. After speaking to you and George Ferris on Friday at Quest Air, I emailed them some of the concerns that were brought up about the glider.

About the keel strength concern that George brought up regarding beefing the keel up just in front of the apex. Aeros says that even though the keel withstood the testing they did on it in this area, they understand the concern and will produce all Stalkers with a beefed up keel in this area.

Also, regarding the pitch pressures that most pilots like, but George (and I'm sure others) would like to see reduced, Aeros has told me that by lowering the ailerons (up to 2 full turns on the pushrod screws) you can adjust the pitch feedback forces on the wing. They feel that George is likely to like the glider more in this configuration.

I'm a flex-wing pilot. I've only had one flight on a rigid wing prior to the release of the Stalker and so I'm not "naturally" the most informed person regarding the Stalker's comparisons with other rigids. This is why I had JB come out to Quest Air for the Stalker's debut. JB is well versed in all the rigids and would be able to "help" me through the release of this glider.

The great thing is, that even though I'm fairly a newcomer to the rigid scene, I have the support group around me (with JB, Aeros and others) to help me get quick answers to all concerns. Soon, I'll be up-to-date on all the ins-and-outs of the Stalker.

Stalking the Stalker

Fri, Mar 2 2001, 4:00:00 pm EST

carbon fiber|David Glover|George Ferris|Ghostbuster|John Borton|Mike Degtoff|Paris Williams|photo|Quest Air|sailplane|USHGA

On Friday (March 2nd), G.W. Meadows enthusiastically invited me to drive on up to Quest Air to take a test flight on the new Aeros Stalker. G.W. had made arrangements with Aeros to have this one shipped to the US in time for the Expo and USHGA BOD meeting in Indiana in February, even though DHV testing hadn't at that time been completed. The Stalker has passed the DHV tests, although it won't receive DHV certification until all the associated paper work has been completed (including a user's manual).

Now that the testing part of the DHV certification process has been completely successfully, Aeros will begin producing the Stalker. They still have to train their work force to assemble the Stalker, so it may take a little while. Mike Degtoff, who originally purchased a Stalker a year ago, is hoping to get his just before the Flytec Championship in mid April. All of the first six that G.W. placed firm orders on have been spoken for or will be demo gliders.

I arrived at about 2 PM and the Stalker was there ready and waiting for my turn. I was very fortunate in that I got the best time of the day for my two flights, and was the only pilot who had the opportunity for a soaring flight. This gave me plenty of opportunity to test it out, although, of course, I would have enjoyed the opportunity to get a few more hours on it. I loved flying it.

You've undoubtedly already read about how nice the Stalker looks and seen earlier pictures that I've published. It looks just that good in person. The sail is tight as a drum.

It gets that way (well, it is new) because there is a continuous aluminum tube along the trailing edge that is forced back as the ribs are swung out by a cable that locks the ribs in place. The leading edge of the sail is behind the leading edge formed by the d-cell, and is held in place by a string in a slot. You can tighten the sail by adjusting the cable or by adjusting how it is wrapped around the string.

In prototypes the ribs were the kind that folded in the middle. No more. Now the ribs made of thin aluminum pieces swing from the back of the d-cell, and are pulled by a cable at the trailing edge. They each have a Delrin wheel at the trailing edge that runs along the trailing edge aluminum tube. This makes for a much tighter sail than the sail you'll happen to see on a Millennium, for example.

Greg Dinaauer's Millennium happened to be nearby, so it made for a ready comparison. Its ribs are folded and pulled from the middle. Its sail was quite a bit older, but it was clear that it wasn't pulled nearly as tight by its folding ribs (there were wrinkles everywhere).

The Stalker sail had about the same tightness as I found on George Ferris's ATOS when I checked the next day. But the ATOS trailing edge is only pulled tight at the ribs, so it is a bit sculpted in between ribs.

The trailing edge tube of the Stalker is the axis for the flaps and ailerons. The spadd (the anti-adverse yaw device) at the tip doesn't use the trailing edge tube and it extends out to the next to last panel.

The leading edges of the Stalker are not covered with a sail, but are Gel coated carbon fiber d-cells. The Gel coat makes them look very clean, and the Aeros engineers claim a performance gain over cloth covered leading edges (sort of like sail planes compared to hang gliders, I guess).

Competition pilots might think about putting rigging tape over the very thin seam at the rear of the d-cell where it meets the sailcloth. Sailplane pilots put this tape at all seams.

It is clear that Aeros has been using their long development time to build a very nice aircraft. The wires and pulleys that run the ailerons look very clean and nicely positioned. All the mechanisms are very clever and well executed.

The stinger fits into the keel and is held there by bungees. You can lift the keel up horizontal and hold it there with the stinger (although I'm not sure why you would want to do this, as you don't stuff in any battens, of course).

In addition to the round keel tube, there is boxed keel of a triangular shape, much like the Ixbo keel, the one I have admired previously. It looks like you can unbolt the boxed keel portion from the tubular keel using allen nuts (useful, if you break something). The boxed keel connects to the spar behind the d-cells, just as in other rigid wing gliders.

As soon as I got to Quest Air, G.W. Meadows, John Bolton, and David Glover were there to encourage and help me get into the air. I couldn't believe just how quickly I was hooked up and off the ground thanks, in addition, to the Quest Air staff.

These guys were full of advice, which I tried to absorb. I was told to fly in with a light touch as the Stalker engaged the ailerons with the slightest touch of the control bar. There is no slack that allows the control bar to wiggle, as you'll find on spoileron controlled gliders like the Ghostbuster, Exxtacy and ATOS.

In addition, the ailerons are a bit more progressive in their action, than spoilerons, which tend toward an either on or off control. On an ATOS, for example, you pull the bar to one side. In the first inch or so nothing happens as you've just pulled in the slack on the lines (this is done to keep the spoilerons from engaging when you just jiggle the bar inadvertently). Then the spoilerons engage.

Most likely you will pull the spoileron up quite a ways to spoil the lift and initiate the turn, so they've gone from off to almost full on. You can then back off on the spoileron.

I watched the ailerons in flight and you could watch them go up a little and the opposite side goes down a little and the turn would begin right away.

My helpers told me to have a very light touch as I would be automatically initiating turns if I jiggled the bar while on tow. I was also told to remember that the bar would be out in the position that Exxtacy pilots are familiar with. At trim the bar would be just in front of my head.

I was told that I should expect the Stalker to tow just like any other rigid wing glider. Straight as an arrow. It does have a bit of dihedral – 1.5 degrees according to G.W. (This is quite a bit less than the Ghostbuster and ATOS.)

When I got into the air, I soon found out what they meant by a light touch. I was inducing yaw oscillations just be trying to center myself over the control bar. It was flying a lot more like a flex wing, and I was over controlling it using my rigid wing "muscle memory."

The PIO was not that bad, as yaw is no big deal on tow. You can just relax completely your grip on the bar and it will go away.

A few flex wing pilots had a chance to fly the Stalker yesterday. They didn't notice any of the PIO that I and other rigid wing pilots (Mark P. and George Ferris) noted. This is strictly a problem of pilot and glider coupling.

The Stalker isn't like other rigid wings (which are all essentially the same in this regard), and it immediately reacts to the slightest pilot input. Just the pilot trying to center him or her self activates the ailerons and the glider yaws.

Off tow, I continued to experience my inability to know how to fly the glider. It was again very similar to my experiences with trying to fly a flex wing after flying my ATOS. I would continually over control it, when much lighter control inputs were required. Also, my timing was completely off.

Still, it wasn't all that bad for me, as I slowly relaxed, and let the glider fly. I didn't have the slightest notion of how to co-ordinate a turn, but I slowed the glider down to 30-mph (trim without the flaps) and was able to turn in 200-fpm lift and gain 1800'. I didn't have an opportunity to try to fly the glider with other than minimal flaps, except on landing.

I really liked the roll response. It was great just looking at the ailerons. I'm not use to being able to watch the control surfaces while I'm flying.

The spadds near the tips have been added to reduce adverse yaw. There was plenty of adverse yaw left, but I think that pilots can easily learn to co-ordinate their turns in light of the yaw. Of course, I was in no position to learn how to do this in the hour or less that I was in the air.

I did have a chance to pull in the bar and speed it up to 60 mph. It was rock steady. No yawing around at all. The bar pressure progressively increased as I pulled in going from moderate at 45 mph to strong at 60 mph. This is completely unlike George's ATOS (before I changed the tuning) which had very little bar pressure at 60 and no progressive increase as I sped up. I haven't flown George's ATOS since I changed the tuning as I flew the Stalker instead.

Mike Degtoff got three flights on it. He had never flown a rigid wing before and didn't have any of the rigid wing pilot's built in reactions. He had a completely different kind of experience on the glider than we did.

I got George to get on the glider and give it a try just before it got dark. He really liked it like I did. While I bent one of the $7 sacrificial tubes at the tips when I landed with one wing lower than another, he had a perfect landing with no flare (the preferred method).

George noted the adverse yaw, and the quick roll response. He felt that it would take him a few hours to learn how to coordinate the turns.

He really appreciated the superb fit and finish of the glider. He did want it with no bar pressure at high speeds.

Paris Williams flew it and thought it handled well. Just like a flex wing glider. He did some steeper turns and could get it to co-ordinate well.

G.W. asked us what we thought about the control bar placement. You notice right away that the control frame has a wicked rake. The rear wires are very close to the down tubes, and every pilot was told to remember about those wires when they went to go to the down tubes. Still they often hit the wires when reaching for the down tubes.

The wicked rake makes for very easy landings. No one seemed have any problem landing. G.W. said to be sure to slow the Stalker way down before flaring. On my first landing I didn't, ballooned up, but then found it very easy to recover, pull the nose down and then bring it in for an almost proper landing.

Aeros is still thinking about control bar placement. It is out there quite a ways, and few pilots will be use to the control bar in front of their heads at trim. They are thinking that they could bring it back three inches.

The reason the control bar is so far forward is to reduce the chance of pilot induced stalls from pushing out the glider and slowing it down too much. John Borton said that he was able to fly the glider straight at 16 mph, but that it stalled at 15 mph (as measured on a Hall meter four inches up from the base bar on the down tube). I didn't try to get the Stalker to fly that slow. I'm just a little nervous about spinning rigid wing gliders. I'm more than willing to push an Exxtacy all the way out, but I haven't done that on at ATOS in quite a while. Nothing happened when I did, but still.

When the Stalker was on the ground, George noticed that the nose wires were slack. It is clear that they aren't slack in flight, and this was a symptom of the keel behind the boxed keel portion bowing near the apex. All the weight of the sail is quite a bit in front of the apex and it is weighing down on the keel.

George mentioned that this would be a possible break point if the pilot had a hard landing and put the control frame on the ground first. George has previously broken the keel on his ATOS and has a very beefed up keel (the broken one) so he is especially sensitive to this issue. He recommended that Aeros beef the keel up with an insert in the middle near the apex to absorb the stress of a poor landing.

I really liked the little spadds, which are passive controlled devices. They are just controlled by the ailerons. Unlike the ailerons, they are pivoted about a quarter of the way up their width so they are also in the below the wing air stream when they are pushed up.

I think that flex wing pilots (the biggest market, after all) are really going to enjoy flying this glider, as they will have a lot less learning to do than rigid wing pilots. It is a truly beautiful and ingeniously built glider and pilots will love owning it.

I didn't have any way of making a performance comparison. Gregg flew with me on my high speed run and said that it flew at about the same glide as his unfaired Millennium at 60 mph. I'm guessing that it will have similar performance to the ATOS and Ghostbuster. It looks a little smaller, so it may be tilted toward better glide and not quite as good a climb rate. At the moment we have no way of knowing, but that was the general feeling yesterday.

The engineers at Aeros have solved in a many elegant ways all sorts of little design problems and they have advanced the art of hang gliding with this remarkable new wing. I look forward to flying against it as a worthy competitor.

It was great being at Quest and playing with a new toy. I can't think of a better occupation for a bunch of old guys like us. David Glover, the on and off again official photographer of the Oz Report took a bunch of photos, so I'll publish some as soon as he gets them to me.

I invite any comments from other pilots who've had a chance to fly the new Stalker, from G.W., and from Aeros. If I've unfairly represented any aspect of the Stalker, please set me straight.

Fooling (and I do mean fooling) around with George's ATOS »

Thu, Mar 1 2001, 5:00:00 pm EST

Fooling|George Ferris|Gilbert Griffith

The other day (https://OzReport.com/Ozv5n49.htm) I reported that I flew George Ferris's ATOS and was later told by George that the nose angle was a bit less than stock. Today, after being urged to do so by Gilbert Griffith, I measured the nose angle, and found that in fact it was quite a bit greater than stock. This explains why the bar kept coming back at me in turbulence. It felt a lot like Gilbert's ATOS after we put the nose lever on and flew it at the resultant wide nose angle (before we adjusted the nose lever).

A little background.

First, George states that the ATOSes that he has flown and that have been delivered over the past year have been very consistent and very nice flying. His ATOS and Gilbert's were built earlier before manufacturing tolerances were what they are today at Icaro.

Second, Air and Icaro do not want you to do any of the things that we are doing to ATOSes. They are tuned at the factory to factory specification, and there isn't a tolerance built into them for changing the nose angle, like there was with the Exxtacy. It has been set for the nose angle that they believe is correct.

Measuring from the front of the top nose plate back to the keel 2285 millimeters or 90 inches with a steel tape measure pulled straight sets the nose angle. Mark the keel at this point.

You then pull a light string between the end of the fish cam on both number nine ribs, lift the keel up until it is horizontal, and then see where the string sits with respect to your mark.

I moved the hang point back from 2" in front of the control frame apex to 1 ½" in front. It didn’t experience the bar coming back at me during a two hour flight today but there was little turbulence. I was still not comfortable with the ATOS, as it would lightly and quickly pitch back and forth, when I felt that it should feel more stable.

After the flight we decreased the nose angle (increased the sweep), by loosing the turns on the turnbuckle, one-half turn on each side.

I was surprised to see just how difference the tension on the back straps at the trailing edge of the sail next to the keel made in the measurement of the nose angle (by measuring the distance down the keel of the string strung between the number nine ribs). Tightening these straps after we loosened the turnbuckle made as much difference in the measurement as loosening the turnbuckles did. Obviously, the tightening the trailing edge, pulls back the edging edges a bit. A bit more than I thought, given how rigid they are.

Therefore, you are going to have to tighten your trailing edge straps before you make any measurements of your nose angle.

I will get a chance to fly the ATOS tomorrow and see what difference if any has come about because of this change.

George mentioned that he had tuned this glider's center section for speed. Of course, now that we changed the nose angle, the center section is looser.

Normally the sail is not as tight on the first three ribs. This allows the undersurface to to come up a bit when thermaling, giving a better climb rate.

If you tightening the sail at the first three ribs, so that the sail is drum tight, the glider will have a better and faster high speed glide, but will suffer a bit in climb. If the day looks like a boomer, tighten it up.

Hanging out in Florida

Tue, Feb 27 2001, 3:00:00 pm EST

carbon fiber|Florida|George Ferris|Johann Posch|Quest Air|Wallaby Ranch

carbon fiber|Florida|George Ferris|Johann Posch|John "Ole" Olson|Quest Air|Wallaby Ranch

(?-i)John "Ole" Olson|carbon fiber|Florida|George Ferris|Johann Posch|Quest Air|Wallaby Ranch

carbon fiber|Florida|George Ferris|Johann Posch|John "Ole" Olson|Quest Air|Wallaby Ranch

The last three days have been especially good here. A nice south wind on Sunday. Light winds on Monday. No winds today. Beautiful cumulus clouds as shown in the Oz Report yesterday.

With no winds an out and return task to Quest Air and back was called for all those interested in an informal little competition among the pilots gathered here at Wallaby Ranch. It's a great idea to call a task, especially a triangle or out and return task, so that we can prepare ourselves for the up coming competitions.

The map below shows a flight on Sunday and the out and return to Quest today:

 

Every time I fly I learn something new. Sunday I flew an Exxtacy for the first time in a year. I had forgotten how relatively big and boaty the Exxtacy is. Relative to the ATOS that is. There was no way I could get this thing to fly fast, given the way it was set up.

It was quite a pleasure to fly, and I felt that I was flying on pillows. Well, according to other pilots the day was especially soft. I did have to circle quite a bit in lift under 300 fpm.

Today I flew George Ferris' ATOS (mine still hasn't arrived from Italy). This is the one that George destroyed last year in New York. He had to order new leading edges.

Man, an ATOS is a lot different than an Exxtacy. I loved what a light touch George's ATOS has.

He also has a Davron carbon fiber control bar. Ooh, what a pleasure to fly with. It is thin and round right where your hands go and much more comfortable than my thicker, and completely aerodynamic carbon fiber base tube. I just loved holding onto that bar, as it fit my hands so much better. Better even than the round base tube.

George has the bar set on swivels so that the pilot can easily change the angle of the bar. You push it down for gliding. I really kept it there the whole time.

I put my hand behind the bar to measure the amount of air that is disturbed by the bar. There was quite a bit of air that is disturbed by the bar, and it appeared to me to be acting as a wing, forcing the air downward. Of course, very hard to tell much with just your hand (actually what is hard is to remember the feeling well enough so that when I fly with another base tube I will be able to compare them).

I hit a little bit of turbulence today, and I noticed that the control bar wanted to come back a bit. I don't like this feeling. Gilbert Griffith tells me it is just the glider tracking and not to worry about it. I always think that the thing is about to tuck.

I got a nice long flight with it, and got to feel the bar come back a number of times. Nothing dramatic, but I was cautious.

I had a great time playing in the air. It thermaled especially nice. It tracked great. The handling was quite light. I could speed up, but it made me nervous as there was even less bar pressure than I had when I flew Gilbert's ATOS with the new nose lever and a very wide nose angle. I took a final glide from 13 miles out and near the end got the ATOS up to over 60 mph (97 km/h). I wasn't even bringing the bar back that far, just past my chest.

There was very light bar pressure, and it seemed quite possible to put the bar to my waist and get it up to 70 mph (112 km/h), I just didn't fell comfortable doing that.

When I got back I spoke with George. He said that he did not like the feel of his ATOS. He said that he had it perfectly tuned (after he repeatedly tuning, retuning, and undoing all his tunings) before he crashed it.

With the new d-cells, he put everything back together according to the measurements that he had made after he got the tuning correct previously. His ATOS did not fly at all the same.

I told him that I thought that the nose angle was too wide, which is why I was getting the base tube to come back at me. He told me that on the contrary, the nose angle was a little bit less than stock. Wow!

I noticed that George had his hang point about an inch further forward than I normally use. This can make a big difference. Gilbert Griffith wrote to me a few days ago and said how much difference it made on his ATOS in handling and speed when he moved the hang point.

After a lot of experience flying different ATOSes, and setting them up in different configurations, I have to confess my ignorance of how best to tune an ATOS. George feels the same way. He says that he will hire himself out to tune an Exxtacy, but he just can't figure out the ATOS.

I feel that the ATOS is just very sensitive to hang point, nose angle, sail tension, flap position, and angle of the three outer ribs. There are too many sensitive variables for us poor uneducated pilots in the field to figure out.

I realize that we really aren't supposed to be tuning the ATOS, but there are circumstances that require some knowledge on our part. I am hoping that in the future Icaro and Felix could send out a technical manual/specification that would give us all the measurements and tolerances that they believe should be adhered to. That way you could check over your ATOS and at least make sure that it is within spec.

The sensitivity of the ATOS to hang point may have contributed to some of the spins that people have experienced on the ATOS. I haven't spun it (other than as indicated in previous articles) so I'm sure that I've got my hang point far enough forward to avoid the problem that comes from hanging too far back.

It would be good if ATOS pilots remembered that it is a good idea to put their hang straps an inch or inch and a half in front of the control frame apex (at least that's what it seems to me). Also, you want to be sure to fly the ATOS without pushing out all the way. Keep your speed up to about 25 mph (40 km/h) when thermaling.

Malcolm told me today that Johann Posch told him that Felix is committed to coming to the Wallaby Open. I sure hope he makes it. Maybe I can get him, or Saskia at Icaro to write down the spec's for the ATOS.

We are sure looking forward to seeing Felix, not just because we want to grill him. Felix is a lot of fun to fly with and we all have a good time when he is around. We also know that he is working on a bunch of little innovations for the ATOS and we'd love to see what he is up to (as would the competition).

New faired instrument pod

Sun, Nov 12 2000, 11:00:00 pm GMT

ATOS|Betinho Schmitz|Brauninger|Carlos Bessa|Flytec|Garmin GPS|George Ferris

This year I've been flying with one cool faired instrument pod (https://OzReport.com/Ozv4n81.htm). This pod actually came from La Mouette (http://www.lamouette.com/accesso1.html) although at the time I mistakenly thought that Betinho Schmitz was the producer (Gerard is better at English, then I am at French). Betinho was until a few days later a La Mouette pilot, flying for Gerard for the previous six years.

Now Betinho has produced his own version of the La Mouette instrument pod (seems like everyone was getting along, and this is actually what they - Gerard and Betinho - planned to have happen). Looks like you can get the original, although there were no prices for it listed on the La Mouette site. My understanding is that it costs about $300/retail (It was included in my Wallaby Ranch bill so I don't remember the exact amount.).

I received my new Betinho-produced instrument pod last week, and it looks great.

Here are a few shots:

I've heard that the retail price for this instrument pod is $140 or $150. I have to pay Betinho in April when he arrives at Wallaby Ranch. You can purchase one from Carlos Bessa (<fly@wallaby.com>) at Wallaby Ranch, the US importer/distributor.

I haven't had a chance to try my new instrument pod out yet. I will provide a full report in January after I put it through a rigorous test of three competitions.

I really liked the fact that it came with a padded bag that will protect it and your instruments. The back was made out of carbon fiber (maybe the front also). The clamp which attaches the pod to the corner bracket of your control frame makes it quite easy to rotate the pod (unlike the more difficult means used by the La Mouette pod).

I did have a chance to ask Carlos about a few items that I still had questions about.

I asked:

There are covered sticky foam tape pieces on the sides of the spot where the GPS goes. I assume that I don't remove the covering. That is I don't want to "glue" in the Garmin because I need to remove it to put in new batteries, also I need to be able to remove the Garmin to give to scorekeepers and to change the cable coming out the back.

Carlos writes:

Yes. just leave the tape on the instrument pod. Or you can replace with Velcro.. The foam is just to hold the GPS in place.

I wrote:

So tell me what it up with these foam guys. Is there I problem with holding in the Garmin GPS? I remember that you admired the lip of Gerard's pod for holding the Garmin. How does yours work?

Carlos wrote:

It isn't a problem how the GPS fits in the pod, but some people prefer better grip, so you can remove the cover of the foam. It will be hard to remove the GPS in the beginning, but with the time the glue will give up, and the sticky tape will work great. When you are not flying in a competition, you can remove one side of the foam tape, for better grip. Competition pilot should leave the cover on.

I wrote:

There is only one screw in the back of the pod for holding the vario. This seems to be built for a Brauninger. As I recall the Flytec used two smaller screws that were off set around this hole. Does this pod work with Flytec also, or do you have a different one for Flytec?

Carlos wrote:

The pod that you have is made for the Brauninger, with the GPS 12. We are working on the Flytec pod. However, with some work you can make it work for the Flytec.

I wrote:

Is the screw on the mount long enough to go through an ATOS corner bracket? That it, is it as long as the longer screw that Gerard used? It seems to be thinner. True?

Carlos wrote:

I will get back on this one. I'll try on the George Ferris Atos.

Sure is good to hear that George has purchased two new d-cells for this crashed ATOS and is back in the air!

Again, I will get back to my readers with my impressions of this nice looking instrument pod as soon as I put it through the wringer.

Discuss "New faired instrument pod" at the Oz Report forum   link»

George spins his ATOS

Tue, Aug 29 2000, 2:00:01 pm GMT

ATOS|George Ferris|Harry Sudwischer|James "Jim" Zeiset|Mark Bennett|spin|Worlds 1999

George Ferris sent to the rigid wing list and to me a report on his spin and crash of his ATOS. I have included it here. I have also included some updates from George, responses to a few comments, and additional comments. George wrote:

I have over 200 hours on my Atos and previous to this incident I have never experienced a tendency for the Atos to spin. There was no warning, like previously stated by other pilots. I had just initiated a hard turn to the left, high bank, with a lot of speed when the glider began spinning to the left.

(editor's note: I ask George: "What exactly do you mean by a hard turn?" He responded: "Going from a neutral position (bar centered) then jamming the bar to one side and push out slightly."

Personally, I have only once jammed the bar to one side on my ATOS when I had little ground. One day in Italy at the 1999 Worlds, I tried to whip the ATOS around like I would a flex wing as I came into land, jamming the bar out to one side, and pushing out. The ATOS turned real quickly, it also slid (or appeared to) on the inside wing. I had to jam the bar in the other direction to get it straightened out and level over the lz. I landed on my wheels with my hands still on the base tube. I haven't tried this particular maneuver since at any altitude.

I will move the bar to one side quickly, but I really don't push out. I certainly don't move my weight to one side as I'm just trying to deploy the spoileron quickly and not add weight shifting to the mix. I have never had the problem that George discovered with his ATOS other than the one day in Italy.)

The glider spun twice in a nose down attitude then went into a vertical dive, which it quickly recovered from.

(editor's note: I asked George, "How high a bank?" George responded:

"I meant to do a 90°, but it went past 90 because the inside wing stalled. When I first initiated the turn I felt the outside wing rise faster than normal. I thought it had entered lifting air, which may have happened, but it kept accelerating because I was entering, or entered a spin immediately."

George had initiated a very high-banked turn. Personally, I have never tried to initiate or even continue banking up to 90° or anywhere near it. In the strongest, smallest thermals, I couldn't be over 60°. Therefore, I haven't had occasion to experience what George has.)

This all happened about 200 ft above the trees in front of the ridge I was flying. It happened so fast that I felt that I was just along for the ride.

Did my inputs help the glider to recover? I have no idea, they were all reflexes, there was no time to think about it. It was all over in a matter of seconds.

When I recovered from the dive I was facing into the ridge 20 feet over the trees tops with no air speed and no room to pull in for recovery. If I had another 50 ft to spare I would have been able to get the glider flying again but that wasn't the case.

The glider stalled and I plowed through the treetops ending up on the ground. The only injury I received was from my knee hitting a rock as I made contact with the ground.

I really have no explanation on why the glider entered the spin after I initiated the turn other than I may have pushed out more than I normally would but I'm not sure. The snap turn at high speed, that I meant to do, I had done many times before.

The only advice I can give is not to initiate any sudden inputs, particularly at high speeds( 40+ mph), when in close proximity to the ground. I consider myself lucky, even though my glider is destroyed, to come out of this with a swollen knee.

Well, has anyone got any spare D-tubes and ribs for sale?

Dennis, <catapult@bendnet.com>, writes into the rigid wing list:

"Aw c'mon Suds, don't do an "unbiased journalist" number on us. Your CBRW bashing is no more credible for than Davis's Mill bashing. I was among the ranters and ravers back when Davis was claiming it was impossible to spin or overspeed a CBRW but the facts are out there now so let's try to be objective."

Oz Report readers are free to go back and check the record. During the time that I was reporting on the spins of the Millennium, and for almost a year afterwards, there were no reports of any rigid wing hang gliders spinning. My personal experience with the Exxtacy was that I could not spin it. The only spins that have been reported recently on the Exxtacy (we didn't have Ghostbusters and ATOSes at the time) have been deliberate spins. It still appears to be very difficult to get an Exxtacy to spin.

At the time of my reports on the spinning Millenniums, it was clear to me that there was a very distinct dividing line between the Millennium and hang gliders. Part of that distinction was the fact that the Millennium was easy to spin, and hang gliders, by and large, were very difficult to spin. Therefore, hang glider pilots, unlike ultralight sailplane pilots, did not have to be concerned with spin and spin recovery. This was another sharp dividing line between two separate pilot communities.

Now, that is no longer the case. Because the control frames of the Ghostbuster and the ATOS have been moved back relative to the Exxtacy, these hang gliders can be spun by pushing out. Pilots who fly these hang gliders, need to know something that only sailplane pilots needed to know before.

Harry Sudwischer<skywild@mindspring.com> writes into the rigid wing list:

"Davis keeps harping on his dislike for rough or sharp edged thermals . His love of big smooth lift Florida Style comes through in a lot of his writing. His instinctive dislike and avoidance of rough air while flying his ATOS is right on the money. All you CBRW pilots should take heed and modify your flying habits accordingly. You could do worse than emulating the "barefoot one" .Remember nothing succeeds like success :-)"

I, of course, have often thought about this issue. Is my dislike of rough air a function of my glider? Am I just a wimp? Having tasted the fruits of great flat land flying does the rough air often present in the mountains just seem second rate by comparison? Or am I getting older and wiser?

This is a very emotional issue for long time hang glider pilots, so even if I try to present a rational perspective, it threatens many entrenched feelings, life style choices, etc., etc. Recently I had an opportunity to exchange a few e-mail messages with Mark Bennett. He wrote how he hadn't moved to Houston in part because of the lack of access to the mountains for flying. He thought it was quite ironic considering our world record encampment in Zapata, and then the Lone Star Meet in Hearne, right next to Houston, and how great the flying was there.

Today I was talking with Jim Zeiset, long time Colorado mountain pilot, who spoke about how great the flying was in Hearne. He then said that he cut short a possible cross-country flight in the mountains, that he would have taken if the other pilot had stayed up. After that pilot went down he felt that it wasn't worth the effort to fly in the trashy air even though he had a retrieval driver.

As I recall my most vivid memory of how much I enjoyed the smoother air, was in fact not at a time that I was contrasting a mountain site with a flat land site, but rather the contrast between two gliders. I was in Australia flying a 166 Moyes Xtralight that I bought from Moyes. The glider was really too big for me, but it sure was fun to fly. I loved how it felt in the air, and had my longest flight up to that point on it, on a day that the task at Hay was called at 142 miles.

By the time that we got to Forbes for the next meet, by Icaro Laminar ST showed up, and I got a chance to fly a little racecar of the glider. The contrast was stark, especially because it had been so soon after my Moyes glider. It scared me a bunch of times. It just wasn't as enjoyable to fly it, even though I could penetrate a lot better with it.

Later I took this glider to the King Mountain meet, and scared myself a bunch more. For example, I continued to fly there on the day that the US number 1 pilot refused to fly his Laminar ST.

After thousands of hang gliding flights, my preference is to fly in conditions that are enjoyable. Others are free to make their own choices. I "harp" about flying in fun conditions because I want pilots to be aware that it is OK to fly in enjoyable conditions. You don't have to prove your "manhood" ever time you take to the air. That's not the point, as far as I'm concerned.

So I leave it up to the reader to determine whether they think I "harp" on the fun air of Texas, Kansas, or Florida, because I fly an ATOS. Maybe, but not likely.

Discuss "George spins his ATOS" at the Oz Report forum   link»

ATOS – spoiler wire adjustment »

Mon, Jun 26 2000, 7:00:04 pm EDT

ATOS|David Glover|George Ferris

George Ferris, «ferris_g», writes:

I've hesitated to write anything on spoiler wire adjustment, because the factory setting is fine and I feared that it would just promote unneeded adjustments, but in recent months I have learned that pilots are adjusting the spoiler wires for the intention of lessening the amount of slack. The problem that exists is that most of these pilots are unaware that there is another critical adjustment that must be done at the same time, the adjustment of the limiter rope (limiter loop). NOTE: If the limiter loop is not adjusted along with the spoiler rope it's possible to break the spoiler rib in flight, rendering you helpless.

The limiter rope is a loop of rope. One end of the loop goes through the thimble at the end of the spoiler wire and the other end of the loop is attached to the D-tube. The size of the limiter loop determines the deflection of the spoiler but more importantly the limiter loop prevents any loads from the control frame to reach the spoiler arm which in turn would transfer that load to the spoiler rib. The rib and spoiler arm were only designed to deflect the spoiler, not designed to bare any loads that are evident when in turbulence or wanging the glider around.

It only takes 3-4 pounds of pressure to deploy the spoiler fully. The loads from thrashing the control frame around are somewhere between 30 to 40 pounds and can exceed 50 pounds. You must be aware of the amount of deflection of the spoiler arm before making adjustments to the spoiler rope so you can adjust the limiter loop accordingly. With the limiter loop adjusted correctly you should have the same amount of deflection to the spoiler arm that was present before you made any adjustment. If you don't understand fully read on, call me, or don't adjust your spoiler wires please.

The easiest way for me to explain further is with the help of your glider whether it's an XTC (Exxtacy) or an ATOS. With your glider fully assembled, stand it on the keel stinger so it's level. This has nothing to do the adjustment it just makes it easier to view what I want you to see.

While you look into the sail, at the spoiler location, to view the spoiler rope, limiter loop, and the lower part of the spoiler arm (the metal arm connected to the spoiler rib) have a friend pull the spoiler wire "toward" the control bar as far as it will go. This simulates you shifting your control bar as far as it will travel to one side.

Have him/her release the tension on the wire and do it again while you watch the function of the spoiler rope, limiter loop, and the amount of deflection of the lower spoiler arm in reference to the spoiler rib. You will notice no matter how hard your friend yanks the spoiler wire the limiter loop stops the travel of the spoiler rope preventing any undo stress to the spoiler arm and rib after the spoiler has been deflected.

Have your friend do the other side as you watch. You should see the same amount of spoiler arm deflection on both sides if the spoiler rope and limiter loop is equal on both wings.

Another way to determine equal deflection is to stand at the tip of the glider and look down the span while your friend deflects the spoilers fully on both sides. You will be able to see the spoiler deflection, about 85 % give or take five percent. What ever it is, it should be adjusted so they are equal on both sides.

Now look into the sail again. Have your friend deflect the spoiler as far as he can as you look at the lower part of the spoiler arm. On the XTC the lower spoiler arm should not be coming in contact with the rib. There should be about 1/2 inch between the double spoiler metal arm and the bottom of the rib with the spoiler fully deflected. If there isn't, the previous owner of your glider has made an adjustment to the spoiler rope without compensating with the limiter loop.

If adjusted correctly you should be able to move the lower spoiler arm up by hand so it hits the spoiler rib but when you release the arm it should drop down below the rib approximately 1/2 inch. If there is space between the lower spoiler arm and the rib, this confirms that the limiter rope is adjusted correctly.

On the Atos there is a single metal spoiler arm that you should be able to pivot toward the trailing edge about 1/2 inch even though your friend is simulating full movement of the control frame to one side. This ½-inch of play is again confirming that the limiter loop is adjusted correctly. The main point here is that there is no force from the spoiler wire, other than deflection, on the spoiler arm and rib.

As a exercise, if you want, after marking where the existing knots are with a permanent marker, shorten the spoiler rope 1/4 inch . (If you were to adjust the spoiler wires this is the measurement I would suggest on both sides.)

Now, have your friend deflect the spoiler again LIGHTLY as you look into the sail. As you can see the spoiler arm deflection is greater. Seeing that you have made an adjustment to the spoiler rope without an adjustment to the limiter loop the spoiler deflection has increase unintentionally and the limiter loop is not coming into play before the rib is under tension. Now the arm and rib are under load and you understand the potential hazard to the spoiler rib that wasn't designed to handle any high lodes.

PS: In answer a XTC pilots question " Does increasing or decreasing nose angle change spoiler wire length". --Yes.

Staff photographer: David Glover

ATOS tuning »

Sun, Jun 11 2000, 5:00:02 am EDT

George Ferris

George Ferris, «ferris_g», writes:

You wrote: I also notice that relative to the Exxtacy, the ATOS requires a bit of high siding under many conditions. George Ferris thought that tightening the outside three ribs got rid of this tendency, but it still seems to be there for me.

There is a misunderstanding about the way to eliminate some of the high siding. To eliminate some of the high siding you need to loosen the tension on the last two ribs, the # 8 & 9. This lessens the amount of high siding needed. I have found this out after months of experimentation and from feedback from other pilots requesting help on this matter. The information below on high siding tuning was sent to pilots requesting help on this subject.

All the Atos gliders that I have flown need some high spoiler (high siding). It seems to be the nature of the glider. There are two adjustments that work in combination to lesson the amount of high siding.

(1) For those of you who have tip wand ropes, be sure your tip wand is as tight as you can get it. (NOTE: If you have cams it is possible to over tighten the tip. If this is the case the trailing edge tension between the # 9 and # 8 will be loose.) In the case of the tip wand with ropes, if they are not really tight (tight to the point that it's hard to get the mounting ropes on) tighten them. Then fly the glider in the same conditions, (BEFORE MAKING ANY OTHER ADJUSTMENTS) or fly the glider several times in conditions that you were experiencing the high siding to determine if there is an improvement. NOTE: tightening the tip wand automatically lessons the tension on the # 8 & 9.

If your not happy with the results from tightening the tip wand or your tip wand was already tight proceed to step two.

(2) The next step is adjusting the amount of tension on # 8 & 9 ribs (the two ribs closest to the tip wand.) First, note where your Velcro adjustment straps are on all four cams before moving them to adjust the tensions. You should mark the Velcro with a permanent marker so you will have a reference point to adjust from. Only make ¼-inch adjustments (NO MORE) to all four ribs each time you fly.

In most cases you need to lessen the tensions on all four, two # 8's and two # 9's. It is possible though that they are too loose and this also will cause the glider to bank up more. It's the correct amount of tension on the # 8&9 ribs that will give you the lease amount of high siding after making sure the tip wand is as tight as you can get it.

If you have cams make sure they are tight. Play with the tension on the # 8 & 9 (after tightening the tip) until you have the correct tension. The correct tension will be the tension that gives you the least amount of high siding needed.

NOTE: This will not eliminate the high siding completely. Be aware that your glider may be set at the best point now. There is no way of knowing unless you experiment or have flown another Atos that needs less high siding than yours. DON'T be fooled by conditions. The air has a lot to do with the amount of high siding needed (there is a lot of span out there).

Make an adjustment and fly the glider a few times before making a determination about its results. Obviously a flight park is the best place to do this. If you are not patient your perceived results will most likely will be incorrect. Tuning is an art and it takes time to see the picture.

ATOS follow up

Thu, Jun 8 2000, 9:00:01 pm GMT

ATOS|George Ferris|Wills Wing

A while back (https://OzReport.com/Ozv4n43.htm) I wrote a long critique of the ATOS. Now that I've had a chance to own and fly AIR's latest version of the ATOS (you can update earlier versions), I thought that I would report back on whether my complaints were answered. I must say that almost every problem that I had has been fixed.

Felix and Berndt have made many incremental changes to the ATOS, most of which where outlined in my earlier report. All these improvements have mad e owning an ATOS, just that much more enjoyable.

I love the new nose lever. It allows you to lift the wing tips off the ground before taking off the protective bags. I love the tip cams that make it easier to attach the sail to the tip wands. I haven't seen any dents in the ATOS (although I've been very careful), as AIR has changed to a new type of foam and has made the d-cells as resistant to damage strong as the Exxtacy's d-cells.

The sail material on the bottom surface fits over the flaps. Air shaved the spoilerons to get rid of a spot where they cracked. I haven’t broken any ribs. The flaps fit perfectly. It is very easy to fold the tip sail material. The sailcloth is thicker in the last two panels, those that come closest to the ground. The tips of the ribs no longer are prone to break off.

The trailing edges line up correctly. I've got a aero base tube and skids from the manufacturer. It's easy to connect the spoileron wires to the control bar junction. The zipper is very easy to work with. I love the new nose cone, which covers the whack tube. (I've only touched the nose cone on the ground once, and that was very lightly.)

There are only a couple of minor issues. I did notice a few continuing wear spots where the sail contacts the keel when the ATOS is packed up. AIR should provide pads for any irregular areas on the keel. I have added a Wills Wing-type black foam pad that is permanently attached to the keel, which I pull over the pulley and pins that go to the flaps. I also have a pad that goes around the rear wires where they are attached to the keel.

I also notice a bit of wear where the sail may be rubbed up against a spoileron when packed. Pilots should take care to be sure that the sailcloth in this area is loose after they pack up the spoilerons.

I also notice that relative to the Exxtacy, the ATOS requires a bit of high siding under many conditions. George Ferris thought that tightening the outside three ribs got rid of this tendency, but it still seems to be there for me. Felix told me that he designed the ATOS so that it was difficult for it to get spit out of a thermal. You'll notice that it is much easier for a wing to go down, then it is for it to be pushed up (or for you to "push" it up).

I would like a little less bar pressure at 45 mph. I've had many long flights on the ATOS, and it seems that I could go just a little bit faster, more often, if I was able to have about as much bar pressure at 45 as I currently have at 37 mph. Maybe I'll try being the hang point even a bit further forward.

I would love to have a new set of downtubes that reduced the drag even further. Felix is working on these, and I'll report on them when I get a chance to test them out. I still have a set from Bob Trampaneau, which I need to check out.

Discuss "ATOS follow up" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Flew the ATOS

Thu, Apr 13 2000, 5:30:01 pm EDT

Chris Arai|George Ferris|Johann Posch|Mike Barber|Wills Wing

Don't believe a word I say. Dismiss every word of this article. Fly any other glider. Stay with what you have. Don't take a demo flight on a rigid wing glider. Be happy with what you have.

I really could not believe it when I took off on my new ATOS today. After all the other rigid wing gliders I've been flying lately, I had almost forgotten how really great this glider is. Yes, I got a couple of flights on George Ferris's ATOS over the last month, but these were nothing compared with flying this new ATOS.

Maybe not ATOSes are the same. Maybe it's just this ATOS. Maybe all the rest of them aren’t this good. Maybe I can only say these things about my ATOS.

This ATOS seems quite light, a lot like the Top Secret (but not quite). I haven't had a chance to weigh it.

Its handling today in light conditions was very light, a lot like the Top Secret. I experienced it as a lot easier to handle than any other rigid wing glider. Maybe it was just the conditions.

I found a nice thermal on the north side of the Ranch and proceeded to climb through everyone in the vicinity, and I mean some of them started out thousands of feet over me. Only Chris Arai came close.

My new ATOS, with me attached and holding on, then proceeded to catch up with Mike Barber on his new small Litespeed. Mike was five miles away. In three thermals I caught him, beating him on glide and climb every time, and then passed him. Mike was complaining about some change he had made to his glider (Mike is always complaining, but we don't hold it against him).

Chris Arai on a Wills Wing Fusion and Jerzy Rossignol on an Aeros Stealth went after Mike also, but they couldn't glide and climb with the ATOS at all. Only Johann Posch on his ATOS came close.

We headed to the west end of Dean Still Road about 12 miles out from the Ranch. Chris, always the gentleman, found some lift to the north when I got low near the turnpoint and told Johann and I to come join him. We stayed while Chris again found lift at the turnpoint and we again joined him. Unfortunately, Chris left the lift soon thereafter while Johann and I got high enough to make the turnpoint and get back in the area of lift.

Jerz was landing just to the north of us at this point, Mike was struggling to the south, and Chris was low heading for the Green Swamp. Johann and I were able to dig our way out (me from 600 feet) and get up high as Chris landed.

While we had to fight our way to the west to get the turnpoint, this thermal would be all we needed to get back to the Ranch. Johann, who found the thermal, was on top well over 6,000' and started out in front getting a half-mile on me. Mike who joined him was just a little ways below him and left before I did. I was on the bottom at 5,500' as I finally joined them on glide.

You guessed it, the new ATOS smoked 'em. Mike's new small Litespeed is no Gerolf glider. He's going to have to work on it. I was able to catch and pass Johann by using a bit of stealth. I was ahead of him before he realized what was going on. He could have beaten me to goal if he had only watched what I was doing and flown faster.

Look, this was all a horrible accident. It doesn't reflect on the glider at all. The pilot just got lucky today. It means nothing. Wait until the real competition starts on Sunday. This is all just a bunch of drivel. Don't worry, be happy.

Virtually Georgia

Sat, Apr 8 2000, 3:00:01 am EDT

Florida|George Ferris|Ghostbuster|Kari Castle|Mark "Gibbo" Gibson|Mike Barber|record|Wallaby Ranch

Florida|George Ferris|Ghostbuster|Kari Castle|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Mark "Gibbo" Gibson|Mike Barber|record|Wallaby Ranch

Florida|George Ferris|Ghostbuster|John "Ole" Olson|Kari Castle|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Mark "Gibbo" Gibson|Mike Barber|record|Wallaby Ranch

(?-i)John "Ole" Olson|Florida|George Ferris|Ghostbuster|Kari Castle|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Mark "Gibbo" Gibson|Mike Barber|record|Wallaby Ranch

Florida|George Ferris|Ghostbuster|John "Ole" Olson|Kari Castle|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Mark "Gibbo" Gibson|Mike Barber|record|Wallaby Ranch

Roger Moeder wrote in to say he really missed all the flying stories in the Oz Report. Well, I hope that he appreciates this issue. I have more information on this next flight, so I'll be able to write a bit longer report.

First of all it is a long way to Georgia when you take the wimp's route following I 75 north of Gainesville – 183 miles. So far no one has made it this far, even though for a while yesterday evening, I thought I had.

Like Bo I launch my Exxtacy early, seven minutes after Bo, but twenty miles south of him at Wallaby Ranch. There is one other pilot out at launch with me, but no real go for it guys. Mike Barber, the sort of go for it guy, is driving back from Miami after visiting his Dad. He could have come back the night before, but no… Gibbo is at work getting ready for Sun 'n Fun. George Ferris is back in New York. Kari Castle hasn't flown in a year except for a few flights on a Falcon the two days before. I'm on my own. What's with this hole in the swamp? We miss Michael Champlin.

The winds are light, but supposedly out of the south. I'm drifting to the west. There is an inversion at 4,000' but there are little cu's breaking out and then quickly disappearing. As soon as I get off tow at 1,500' they all disappear in the areas around me and I have to circle in the blue at 50 fpm looking around for haze domes.

I can see a bit of a line to my west but I'm too low to dive for it, and I have to creep over slowly working what lift I have. The other pilot who is launching with me, is now ready for his third flight as I drift at 2,000' slowly to the west.

After 45 minutes I'm three miles from the Ranch when I finally get in good enough lift to take me over 3,000'. From then on the lift is good until I land 7 hours later 154 miles to the northwest.

With the inversion starting off at 4,000' the cu's are widely separated, and only a few feet thick. They come and go so quickly that you don't head for anything that has been there for more than a minute. It is already dying.

With so little wind it seems at first as though no long distances are possible. I'm looking at the lakes as I fly by, and while there is some wind on them, it is in all sorts of different directions. The thermals are setting the wind direction.

As I drive past Quest, I see Rick Edris in the air in his ATOS. Rita is way below him circling at what looks like 50 ' (I keep seeing her shadow), over the landing zone and the trees next to it. Finally she lands. I can see Campbell setting up his Ghostbuster. There aren't any other rigid wing gliders around.

I'm moving west as the cloud streets, such as they are, are west of state route 33 heading toward the Florida Turnpike, south of the Okahumpka Service Plaza. I'm just over the prisons south east of Coleman and east of I75, getting under some better clouds. I'd rather not be this far west, but that's where the clouds are. I usually like to head straight north along the western edge of the Ocala National Forest and as I get high, I can see a few clouds further to the north in that direction.

It's a big blue hole from Coleman north to the Dunnellon highway, and I'm climbing to 6,500' as cloud base rises. I run through the blue hole north across 44 and west of I75, but half way through, I have turn back, and pick up some lift I missed, getting back down to 800'. It takes me to back over 6,000' and I can then make the jump to the next clouds to the south west of the Ocala airport. I'm now 5 miles to the west of I75 and committed to going west around Payne's Prairie and Gainsville. I can see the Williston Airport off to my right.

As I approach the southern edge of Payne's Prairie a red Ghostbuster comes in about 300' underneath me. I can see the pilot in a red and yellow harness, so I think it's Campbell. Later I get a bit of a side view of him, and he looks like a humpback whale, with the legs pointed down.

I'm happy to have the GB with me, and I'm hoping for some help navigating north and getting to Georgia. Since I'm twenty miles ahead of this guy, I'm not too concerned about who's going to win the day. Unfortunately, he flails about, and I climb out on him in the next thermal, and I have to bid him goodbye. Fifteen minutes later as I'm climbing out fast, I see the Ghostbuster 500' over me and ¼ mile in front. Oh, well. I never see him again.

I'm moving a lot faster now than at the beginning, but my GPS has gone out on me due to low batteries. I'm beginning to have to guess where I'm at as I've never been here before.

I'm north of Gainesville, which I know if 100 miles north of Wallaby, and I'm about 5 miles to the west of I75. I can feel a bit of a west flow, and I'm heading northwest paralleling I75.

The cloud base had risen to 7,500' and I got there a couple of times, but now the cloud base has gone down to 6,000'. Still it is easy to get there, and the lift is easy to find. The clouds are thickening up as it gets after 4:30 PM, but still most of them are working.

My air speed at less than 40 mph, and I'm tracking about 45 over the ground when I turn on the GPS for a minute or two. I can't get the Exxtacy to fly fast, it just has a hard time pushing itself through the air. Ten miles an hour slower than an ATOS or a Ghostbuster.

At this point I become confused about now far north I am as I mistake a major east west intersection for Interstate 10. Without a working GPS, my mind starts up with a few tricks, and with encouragement from my driver, who thinks he is south of me, when in fact he is north, I begin to think that I'm not too far from Georgia.

I'm beginning to think that I've broken the Florida state record, the east coast record, the Georgia state line, and I'm closing in on 200 miles. The mind does play tricks.

It's late, and I'm working wheat I think will be the last thermal. It's 6:15 and the cloud is black over me. I'm only getting 300 fpm now, this late in the day, and it does indeed turn out to be the last thermal. I glide north past what does turn out to be I10 and land 154 miles north of the Ranch, thinking I've gone almost 200 miles.

I'm in the middle of nowhere. I've been unable to hear from my driver (although he can hear me), because he is so far north near Valdosta, Georgia. I don't have a working GPS, so I'm unable to give him my co-ordinates.

I land in a potato patch and after breaking down and getting the driver on the cell-phone (which does no good, as I don't know where I am) I walk out to the Interstate a few miles away. By then it is clear to me that I'm still in Florida, but I can't get the driver as their cell phone isn't working. I stop at the only house on the country radio that doesn't have vicious dogs. They invite me to wait and watch the Braves/Giants game. The Braves lose at home.

Sam and I make it back at 2 AM.

The Michael Champlin Florida state record for hang gliders still stands. The Peter Lehmann, east coast record for hang gliders still stands. No one has gone 200 miles on the east coast. No one has flown to Georgia from Wallaby Ranch, so the $1000 pot is still there.

Another flight comparison

Thu, Apr 6 2000, 5:00:02 pm EDT

Deane Williams|George Ferris|Ghostbuster

Deane Williams,«deane.williams», writes:

Just as another point of comparison I got to fly my Mill in smooth coastal ridge lift last fall at Cape Cod in Massachusetts. The other ships that remained up in the failing ridge lift were George Ferris in his ATOS, another ATOS and 5 Exxtacys.

All flex wings had been forced down. I was pleased to see George and I were at the top, trading about plus or minus 20 feet. I was not flying with a vario. I think George was.

George and I are closely matched in wing loading. The Exxtacies were not that much lower and it was evident that pilot drag and skill seemed to be somewhat of a factor in their altitudes, even at such low speeds. There are still no GhostBusters here in the northeast that I know of.

Campbell spins Exxtacy, but not Ghostbuster

Thu, Mar 16 2000, 5:00:01 pm EST

George Ferris|Ghostbuster|Mark "Gibbo" Gibson

George Ferris|Ghostbuster|John "Ole" Olson|Mark "Gibbo" Gibson

(?-i)John "Ole" Olson|George Ferris|Ghostbuster|Mark "Gibbo" Gibson

Campbell Bowen|George Ferris|Ghostbuster|John "Ole" Olson|Mark "Gibbo" Gibson

Four months ago Campbell Bowen tried to make his Exxtacy spin. He had always heard that Exxtacies were docile and that they wouldn't spin. He wanted to see if that was the case.

He put the Exxtacy into a turn with a high bank angle. He then high sided it climbing up on the outside downtube, and pushing the control bar out and toward the inside wing.

The inside wing stalled, broke loose, and he was in a spin. Like my Gibbo Ghostbuster spin he described it as violent – fast rotation, nose down. It sacred him. Unlike me he wasn't sure whether he should write about it.

He was able to recover after about 3 revolution by pulling in on the base tube. He hadn't expected the spin to be that violent.

We know that a French aerobatic pilot spun and broke an early Exxtacy soon after they were released. His and Campbell's spins are the only Exxtacy spins I am aware of. George Ferris told me of a conversation that he had with Felix Ruhle, the main Exxtacy designer. Felix said that it was quite difficult to spin an Exxtacy, but that this was about the only way to break them. I assume that he was reflecting on the French pilot's experience.

A few days ago, Campbell tried to spin his Ghostbuster after he read my articles about spinning Gibbo's. He was towed up three times in smooth evening air to 3,000' and tired spinning as long as he was above 2,000'. He was still a bit nervous from his experience spinning the Exxtacy, but got bolder with each flight.

He first tried with 15 degrees of flap. He would get into a turn, high side, and push all the way out. While he could feel the inside wing stalling, it wouldn't break loose and start spinning. The turns would start accelerating, but the wing kept flying.

He tried also with the flaps flat and the flaps pulled in. Still the same results. The inside wing would appear to start stalling, but it wouldn't break loose.

Campbell, like Gibbo, is a big guy – 230 pounds of ex-football player (see below). The spins we know about on Ghostbusters have occurred with lightweights (I'm 175 pounds). Perhaps this plays a role, along with whatever tuning Gibbo did on his Ghostbuster. Two of the other Ghostbusters that have spun appear to be stock gliders.

Paris Williams goes big cross wind?

Wed, Mar 15 2000, 3:00:00 pm EST

Florida|George Ferris|Ghostbuster|Mike Barber|Paris Williams|Quest Air|record|Wallaby Ranch

Campbell Bowen|Florida|George Ferris|Ghostbuster|Mike Barber|Paris Williams|Quest Air|record|Wallaby Ranch

What was I writing a while back after Bo Hagwood went 142 miles to the northwest toward Tallahassee? Something like pilots have a better chance out of Quest Air to take southeast winds and go long distances?

Today, we went all out to disprove this bit of Florida backwoods wisdom. We also wanted to put a stop to Malcolm bad mouthing this wide spot in the swamps known at Wallaby Ranch. He's always saying that the thermals aren't good enough here in Florida in the winds. He's also always saying that pilots out of Wallaby can't do anything but go to the coast on strong east days.

We've been flying in strong thermals on strong wind days over the last week. The thermals are sometimes turbulent and sometimes not. At first we were just flying down wind (to the west), but there was no problem with finding good thermals on strong wind days.

To disprove the can't fly to anywhere but the coast on strong east days, Paris Williams, George Ferris, Mike Barber and I decided to head north in the very strong east wind, get around the Green Swamp, and head for Tallahassee.

I got backed up against the Green Swamp after getting low near 474 and 33. George Ferris got higher earlier and pushed north to land on the coast, but way north at Homasassa Springs after only two hours of flying.

Paris Williams continued to work his way north and landed over 90 miles out, just west of the Williston Airport. Mike Barber who started late and had to work through much weaker conditions landed near him.

These turned out to be the longest flights out of the Florida flight parks today (I called Campbell Bowen on his cell phone to check this out). Bo landed a bit east of Paris at 70 miles out.

Not only did a flex wing pilot go the longest distance today, but the Wallaby Ranch pilots were able to dig themselves out of the swamp at get north to the good lift in adverse conditions.

Hopefully this will encourage more pilots to realize that they can go cross wind even in strong winds and get good distances. Paris landed way early, so there was a chance today for a record flight.

I'll be going up to Quest Air tomorrow for a flight on Campbell's Ghostbuster. It is strong out of the south, so we'll all be shooting for 200 miles.

Flailing off downwind

Tue, Mar 14 2000, 2:00:05 pm GMT

George Ferris|Mike Barber|Paris Williams|Patty Cameron|Wallaby Ranch|Bo Hagewood

Today, Wallaby Ranch pilots – George Ferris (ATOS), Mike Barber (waiting for small Litespeed, flying a Rotor harness), Patty Cameron (Stealth), Paris Williams (Fusion), and I (borrowed Exxtacy) took the 20 mph east wind to the coast trying to beat our 1½ hour record of the other day. We were fifteen minutes behind it for our 60-mile flights. Strong turbulent lift to 5,400' AGL.

While I climbed out from the Ranch in a big fat 600 fpm thermal to cb, and George reported two big fat ones at 800 fpm during his flight, most of the time we were flying on the ragged edge. You've got to wonder what caused this. Perhaps the high pressure. The wind may contribute at that strength, but it is so flat down there.

Bo Hagewood flew his Fusion up to Quest Air and back to Wallaby for a great cross wind task in these strong conditions. He got to stay with the clouds that gave up on us by Zephyr Hills. They came on later.

Discuss "Flailing off downwind" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Fanging the ATOS

Tue, Mar 14 2000, 2:00:03 pm GMT

Christof Kratzner|George Ferris|Gilbert Griffith

"Fanging" is a word that Gilbert Griffith in Australia uses for "wanging." George Ferris let me fly his ATOS again the other evening, and he said really wring it out. I took it up in calm air, and tested it for spiral instability, among other things.

George had decided to put the glider back to its stock position. He had been working and working on it, and then he found that the numbers 5,6, and 7 ribs were initially misaligned. He believes that they came that way from AIR, although factory records state that the ribs were in line.

Once he got the ribs lined up as they should be from AIR (he was on the phone to Felix about this issue), everything fell into place. He undid all the things that he had done to overcome this problem, and the glider was the sweetest it had been. Makes you think that Felix and Berndt got it right to begin with.

Once off tow, I put the ATOS up on a wing tip both circling left and right, and did this a number of times, at very high bank angles. I would then let go of the bar and see if I would stay centered and whether the glider would continue to turn in a circle without trying to wrap up or get in a tighter spiral.

I could let go of the bar, I stayed centered, and the glider continued to circle perfectly. I was pretty amazed. I had always been a little reluctant it get it up quite that steep.

I did a bunch of 45 to 45° rolls, and while it wasn't lightening quick, it wasn't too bad either. I haven’t done these on a flex wing in a long time, so I would be hard pressed to make a comparison.

I did a bunch of speed runs at well over VNE, probably around 70 mph. There was easy bar pressure to past my waist. The bar pressure was remarkably light but consistent and progressive throughout the speed range. At the highest speeds, I felt speed bumps. I couldn't tell if this was from texture in the air or from the wing generating the bumps. I assume the latter.

I don't understand the process that creates these bumps. Perhaps it is like the Exxtacy. I do recall seeing the wings flex on Christof's ATOS when we raced into goal one day at the Worlds. Perhaps someone will write in and tell us more about this phenomenon.

While I pushed the bar out a bunch, I didn't push so hard as to stall the ATOS. I didn't try too hard, as I was still feeling the effects of spinning the Ghostbuster a few days ago. I guess I should have tried harder. Everyone would like to know I'm sure. I'm sorry that I didn't make a bigger effort. I guess I was just following George's invitation to wring it out with wangs, etc.

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

Joe Greblo on No Flare Landings

Mon, Mar 13 2000, 3:00:02 pm EST

Davis Straub|George Ferris|Joe Greblo|Wills Wing

I was very happy to receive a message from Joe Greblo after he read my series of articles on No Flare Landings. Joe is a very well respected hang gliding instructor, among many other things, in southern California.

Joe had a set of notes that he sent, with the proviso that they weren't really finished, or ready for publication. When George Ferris read them he thought they were great. I really wanted to publish Joe's thoughts.

Well Joe and I cleaned up his notes a little bit, and while they are still a bit rough, they'll do for now. I think that Joe really speaks to a revolution in our thinking about hang glider landings and I hope you will read his notes carefully. Joe can be reached at «windsports».

Congratulations on your discovery and welcome to the world landing hang gliders without full flares.

As a flight instructor, this subject has plagued us for years and gotten worse with glider evolution of the past 15 years. The historical solution to bad hang glider landings has been to try to increase the pilot skills to keep up with the higher wing loadings, taller and wider control bars, shorter chord lines, the lower twists, more rapid pitch rotations, relentless energy retention, etc.

You've noticed something that only a few instructors have been teaching for years. That is that a modern hang glider should no longer be landed like a parachute. This worked fine for standard Rogallos and lower aspect ration wings, but in retrospect, we probably should have abandoned this technique in 1980 with the introduction of gliders like the Wills Wing Harrier, Duck, UP Comet, etc.

Instead it would be safer in general to land hang gliders more like airplanes by "greasing them in", so to speak. There's a bunch of reasons for this that take a bit of explaining, and I've not yet been able to put them in the form of a good article, but I'd be happy to give you a call and discuss them with you if you are interested.

It's rather encouraging to note that this (what I'll call more modern) landing technique has really taken hold at one of our flight parks (in an undisclosed location). About 30-40% of the pilots are landing this way now and they swear by it. Not as many whacks around the l/z.

The main problem I have with flaring at an angle of attack lower than stall is that this airspeed provides the wing with a slight surplus of energy that is occasionally converted to excessive, undesirable, altitude when coupled with incorrect flare timing, or an unpredictable gust of wind. Stated differently, with this technique, as the pilot begins to flare, the wing will produce greater lift before the wing stalls and reduces lift.

The bad part here is if you get a gust at the moment of flare, your glider will climb to an altitude proportional to the velocity of the gust. The second problem with this technique is that when timed properly, semi-prone and even prone positioned pilots are rewarded with successful landings.

1. This technique puts the pilot into a severely stalled angle of attack while at high wing loading.

2. This technique puts the pilot into a prone position (relative to the wing) during the highly loaded stall.

3. If we could greatly reduce wing loading during the stall, we could greatly reduce the stall speed

4. During stall, directional control is dramatically reduced.

5. If we could control the relative wind during the landing flare, we could reduce some of the negative aspects of the landing flare. i.e. the magnitude of the stall break.

Since the beginnings of our sport, it has been taught that the perfect landing is one in which all forward ground speed is eliminated before the pilot's feet contact the ground. As gliders evolved into wide, span efficient, high lift wings, perfect landings have become more and more difficult to achieve.

No single subject has occupied the minds of instructors and pilots more than that of "how to land a modern hang glider". There have been more articles, more lessons, more clinics, more dialogue, on this subject, perhaps than any other subject in hang gliding. We have the "crescendo technique" and the "2-step flare". We've had articles on hand position, body position, flare timing, etc. And what seems common to all this rhetoric is the realization that a good no-wind landing requires flaring the precise amount at exactly the right moment. Too early and it's time for new downtubes. Too late and your friends are wishing you luck (or yelling WHACK!)

Ah, that moment! That elusive little moment. You better not miss it or else! If only we could broaden this moment, and give us a wide window of opportunity to flare the glider. Naw, that's not possible, is it? You bet it is! And to understand how, one needs to look closely at 2 things. How a hang glider stalls, and how landings have traditionally been taught.

For years, many instructors have taught pilots to begin their flare at an angle of attack that is lower than incipient stall (mush). In light winds, this flare is quite quick and dramatic, resulting in the landing position in which the pilot is in the prone body position relative to the keel as required to land on his/her feet.

At some point during this landing, the pilot has assumed a prone position relative to the keel. In fact, this prone body position is a necessary component of a good zero wind landing. If, then we must get prone sometime during this flare process, it's not surprising that some pilots assume the prone position sooner than others.

Hang gliders are designed to drop the nose when they stall. That's a good thing and you wouldn't want it any other way. Another fact is that the rate the glider pitches down during stall recovery, and the force of the nose down rotation, is related to angle of attack. The higher the angle of attack in stall, the further downward and more powerfully the nose will rotate during recovery. Based upon this we can certainly understand why pilots struggle more with no wind landings than when landing into a moderate breeze.

To further complicate things, hang gliders have evolved to reasonably high aspect ratios as compared to the easy to land gliders of the 1970's. And high aspect ratio wings rotate about their pitch axis much more quickly than low aspect wings (Pulses, Dreams, Falcons, etc). Manufacturers have tried to remedy these problems by locating the apex of the control bar further rearward giving the pilot more authority during the flare when the glider would like to powerfully recover from the extremely high angle of attack associated with the no wind flare.

But they have not found a way to prevent the glider from trying to rotate it's nose downward during this severe stall event as this is an important part of the gliders pitch stability. We all know what would happen if you fully flared your glider at 1000 ft. agl (please don't do it to find out!) It will pitch down violently and uncontrollably and possibly tumble ass over teakettle! But isn't this what we are trained to do when we land in no wind? Of course it is!

Why doesn't the glider pitch down violently and uncontrollably and tumble during a no wind flare? The answer; it simply doesn't have time. Hopefully our feet are on the ground before it begins this process. But don't be fooled, if your feet are not on the ground quickly, you can be assured that the glider will try to recover from this stall. And if you give it the time and space, it will do it just as violently as it would at 1000 feet.

Whoaa Nelly! But what would happen if you hooked into your glider in your l/z, ran with it on flat ground until your harness straps were tight and your glider lifting, and flared hard? I'll tell you. The nose easily remains up with little pitch down forces. Even in zero wind!

Hmmm, in the first example, when the glider is at altitude and dramatically stalled, it pitches down with extreme force and magnitude, but in the second example it doesn't. What's different in these two examples? Only wing loading and the direction of the relative wind (angle of attack)!

If, during your flare, you dramatically reduce wing loading and control the direction of the relative wind, you can eliminate the powerful forces of rotation about the pitch axis. In doing so we can eliminate one of the major causes of the nose and control bar hitting the ground.

Another relationship between wing loading and the stall, is stall speed. Stall speed increases with wing loading. Reduce wing loading and you reduce stall speed. If you could eliminate wing loading entirely, your wing could never stall! If it never stalled, it would never pitch down in its attempt at stall recovery. Hence, even with a very pitch stable wing, it would be easy to keep the nose up on landing.

Back to landing problems. We recognize the time to flare as an elusive moment. Can we broaden the moment so that we can flare early or late and not be penalized with a bad landing? Unfortunately, the only way to flare early without the danger of climbing is to cause such a quick and complete flare action as to produce an accelerated stall. Although this may be a valuable skill to possess, it is a difficult and dangerous task to practice. Therefore few pilots will ever avail themselves of this useful skill, hence early flares will almost always increase your danger. But we can eliminate the usual landing problems associated with flaring later, at slower airspeeds.

Many pilots who have tried flaring later than the "magic moment", find that they still have bad landings. Most often this is caused by their expectation that the glider will rotate upward, ultimately placing them on their feet in the perfect stand-up (but prone with respect to the glider) position. By waiting for the glider to drop the pilot onto his/her feet, the glider remains at a high wing loading through this dramatically deep stall. Remember, high wing loading means high stall speed; and deep stall means quick and powerful stall recovery forces. Since the pilot has waited until the glider is without excess energy, it will not climb the amount necessary to rotate the now prone pilot to his feet and he lands on his belly, or tries to run it with his feet too far behind him.

The solution requires 3 simple actions from the pilot.

1. Delay the flare by holding steady altitude (your feet 2 inches above the ground) in your ground skim until it cannot be held any longer. This is when the glider truly begins to stall (mush) and it will settle you gently onto the first step of your run. The fact that you've induced the onset of a stall will insure that the glider will not climb even with an unexpected gust.

2. Keep the feet under you, remain upright, and begin to run as soon as the first foot touches the ground. This will unload the glider, eliminate it's high wing loading, and control the relative wind to provide a maximum angle of attack of 90 degrees as opposed to 180 degrees associated with the tail sliding flare. This guarantees you will be on your feet in an effective running position and reduces the powerful and nasty stall behavior of the glider during the flare.

3. Accelerate your run and flare fully and completely at the moment the glider sets your weight on your foot. With this technique, you will come to rest in only one or two steps. If the terrain allows you to take more running steps, feel free to run out your landing with a gentler, more progressive flare. If you desire not to flare fully, that's ok too as this technique allows pilots to utilize a complete range of flare magnitude. They can flare fully if the wings are level and the terrain won't allow a run, they can flare slowly and progressively to stop the glider whenever they want to, or they can choose not to flare at all.

George Ferris⁣ on tuning the Exxtacy and ATOS »

Sun, Mar 12 2000, 3:30:02 am EST

George Ferris

While there are many details that I haven't yet understood – George is a very complex guy, the broad overview is this:

Make sure that the edge of the sail at the nose fits right on the edge of the d-cell. No gap.

Get the sail as tight as a drum. This means tighter than it came to you. As tight as you can.

Clear any and all wrinkles in the sail – this is the tricky part. If you really tighten the sail, and go over it very carefully, you will find the wrinkles. Even small ones.

On both these gliders the rib tension increases from the root toward the tip. This is the factory setting. When you tighten every thing up, you still have to have a progressive looser to tighter setting on the ribs.

Tighten the tip wand to tighter than you can tighten it, unless you have the cams, which let you tighten it that tight.

Discuss "George Ferris⁣ on tuning the Exxtacy and ATOS" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Spiral instability on the ATOS

Wed, Mar 8 2000, 6:00:04 pm GMT

ATOS|David "Dave" Sharp|Felix Ruehle|George Ferris|James "Jim" Lamb

George Ferris and I have discussed the issue of spiral instability on the ATOS. He says that if you lower the tips a small amount, the ATOS becomes spirally unstable. There are also other configurations in which you can adjust the ATOS and it will become spirally unstable, but they required multiple adjustments. Felix Ruehle asks that pilots do not adjust their ATOSs outside of manufacturer's specifications.

Jim Lamb, <jlamb@inav.net>, writes:

We've had some great warm weather here in the mid-west this last few days. I took the ATOS to Whitewater, Wisconsin and had a fun 30 mile flight - good for Mar. 6. During the flight I had an experience similar to Dave Sharp's description. 30+ degree bank, slightly 'pushed' trying to get the glider around quicker, a little turbulence and found myself in a mild, stall/spin. Mostly the glider just went toward the low wing and it took about a quarter turn to roll level.

It was very easy to get the air moving across the stalled tip and manage the airspeed. I think there is a big difference in the GB and the ATOS stall/spin characteristics from the EXX consequent to the increased span. Scott's suggestion that they be 'flown' all the way around turns is certainly appropriate.

Discuss "Spiral instability on the ATOS" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Did Dave Sharp spin the ATOS?

Tue, Mar 7 2000, 3:15:04 pm EST

Dave Sharp|George Ferris|Ghostbuster|Worlds

I received a phone call from Dave Sharp today regarding my article on spinning the Ghostbuster. He mentioned that he had two incidents with his ATOS. He was thermaling at a high bank, about 30 degrees, and the ATOS spiraled in and turned very quickly for about ¾'s of a turn. This happened once on two different flights. Unlike what happened with me on the Ghostbuster, he did not start out level.

I mentioned that I had a sort of similar incident last year at the Worlds, when I tried to torque the ATOS around like a flex wing on my final leg into the standard lz. The inside wing seemed to slip, and I fell quickly, only to jamb the bar toward the outside wing, get it flying level again, and then land rather abruptly (thanks to wheels, all was well).

George Ferris has mentioned that his ATOS was spirally unstable until he retuned it (I am unsure just what that means in this case). He said that he flew a recent ATOS and that this problem was no longer there. Dave has an ATOS from last July.

George Ferris has a business retuning Exxtacies. He is down here at Wallaby doing that (actually escaping the upper New York state winter.) He really has a lot to say about how to tune these rigid wing gliders, and I'm hoping to get more out of him. He's learned a lot about the ATOS, and I'm sure would love to fly the Ghostbuster (he has said so to me).

Hopefully , more to follow. That is if I can still fly someone's Ghostbuster. J

Ghostbuster – the details »

Sat, Mar 4 2000, 4:30:00 pm EST

George Ferris|Ghostbuster|Mark Poustinchian|Quest Air

cart|George Ferris|Ghostbuster|Mark Poustinchian|Quest Air

George Ferris and I continued discussing bar pressure on these rigid wing gliders as he worked on making mods to his ATOS. He claims that he was able to eliminate the bar pressure from his Exxtacy (which is his goal for his ATOS). While he did it by tinkering on the Exxtacy, and can't remember exactly what he did, I got him to agree that he increased the nose angle and tightened the sail. His setting for his nose angle was 98.5 inches (strange dimension for an angle, but Exxtacy pilots will understand).

I got an e-mail message from another ATOS pilot who has also had some experience on a Ghostbuster. He states that on his ATOS, "the pressure starts going away at around 45 and gets scary light past 50. So it goes to show that there are some variations on each Atos.

So Exxtacy pilots that would like to get less bar pressure and are not ready to purchase a Ghostbuster, might try adjusting their Exxtacy first. George didn't make any changes to the twist on this Exxtacy. The nose angle adjustment is supported by the factory as long as you stay within tolerances. Tightening up the sail is perfectly legal also.

George also told me that he got his Exxtacy to fly so well that when he let other people fly it he told them to land by pulling the flaps in all the way and not doing anything. Just come in and put your feet on the ground when they got there. The glider would land itself.

Since it is not a good idea to flare when you have the flaps on full, this was probably good advice. When asked what he meant by doing nothing, he said that he would advise them to take their hands off the down tubes when the got down next to the ground, but if they were just light on the down tubes, that was enough.

With full flaps on, the Exxtacy would just come down to the ground when you pulled in, and it wouldn't glide more than a few feet in ground effect. The glider would essentially mush in and didn't require a big production on the part of the pilot.

This advice seems quite applicable to the Ghostbuster as they handle in a very similar fashion. As I had quite a bit of flaps on when I landed it, I noticed how easy it was to land, as long as I didn't try to flare, and how quickly it came down.

The Ghostbuster weighs 85 pounds, about half way between the ATOS at 73 and the Exxtacy at 95. It has a sail that is heavier than the ATOS sail (about 4 or 5 pounds worth) and is heavier duty. It seems to be the same weight of sail that is used on the Exxtacy.

I remember when we first saw this sail on the Exxtacy and it seemed so flimsy as all our history was flex wing sails, which are built like tanks, as a flex wing mainly consists of its sail. Now it seems to be quite rugged compared to the lightweight sail used on the ATOS.

So it's a trade off. So far I've been unable to find out the cost of replacing a sail on the ATOS (something that you would never do on a flex wing as it represents 2/3rds of the cost of the flex wing). Therefore it is hard to know the cost of the tradeoff. As George Ferris was able to keep his ATOS sail in pristine shape, maybe the trade-off isn’t as bad as I originally thought.

The other 5 or 6 pounds can be accounted for in the wing tips, the flaps, and perhaps in the D-cells.

Of course, weight is really on an issue on the ground. It's nice to have the extra weight in the air, where you need a bit of ballast to fly these rigid wings fast enough. 73 pounds is the weight of a flex wing glider, and it is only the extra width that makes the ATOS hard to cart around on your shoulder. 85 pounds may be doable, but I had help at Quest Air, so I didn't give it a try.

The Ghostbuster tips have been spilt so that can be transported more easily. Mark Poustinchian said that he never splits the tips.

Exxtacy owners will find that the trailing edge of the Ghostbuster has only a half wing of Velcro, and it stops at the flap. You open the trailing edge completely, to get at the ribs, which are made so that they don't swing down until you grab them.

With the trailing edge completely separated, you can easily reach in to get a hold of the ribs, and get to the strings that tie the trailing edge of the ribs. These strings are now inside the sail for reduced drag.

More on Ghostbuster details in the next Oz Report.

Flew George's ATOS, too.

Fri, Mar 3 2000, 3:30:01 pm GMT

ATOS|Felix Ruehle|George Ferris|Michael "Hollywood" Champlin|Tyson Richmond

A while after I got back to the Ranch, I was discussing the bar pressure issues with George Ferris. He had just landed his ATOS and was complaining about bar pressure, too. He encouraged me to take it up for a short flight and see what I thought. It was now after 5 PM, and all the thermals were disappearing, but I thought why not.

George has made quite a few modifications to his ATOS and had just been on the phone with Felix Ruehle about lowering a couple of interior ribs that appeared to be too high. He wanted me to fly the ATOS before he lowered them. He figured the ribs were causing his problem with bar pressure.

George has a really nice Davron carbon fiber base tube on the ATOS. It’s neat trick is that it rotates through a range of appropriate angles. The base tube belonged to Michael Champlin. It was for his CSX. It fit the ATOS just fine with a slight adjustment of the spoileron wires (easy to do in the field).

The base bar rotates using an ingenious system. The standard fitting on the base bar was two Mylar thicknesses greater in diameter than the plugs of the ATOS base tube. The plugs were drilled and the holes elongated to allow the bolt that goes through them to rotate. Mylar was placed around the plug and then heated to make it conform to the plug. It worked great, with just enough resistance (determined by how tightly you turn the nut on the bolt) to let the base tube stay at any angle that you set.

Carlos towed me up to 2,500' in calm air, and I started pulling in the base bar. Hmm, after all my checking of bar pressures over the last two days, I wondered what George was complaining about. It was only a bit more than the GB, and nothing near the Exxtacy bar pressure. I could pull into my chest and I was flying in the upper forties again.

I pulled in quite a bit more and got it flying at around sixty. I had my ATOS in Italy flying at 70 mph coming into goal one day.

I think George will be able to reduce the bar pressure by getting the ribs back into line. I could see how any bar pressure at all could get tiring after 5 hours. Even so, I wasn't complaining after flying Tyson's Exxtacy on Sunday.

The ATOS was handling oh so sweet. I had forgotten how good it is to fly. George's seemed even nicer than mine (now Gilbert's). He also replaced the flap line in the back of the down tubes with thin wires. Looked a lot cleaner. I'll have to do that. George hasn't revealed all his secrets to me yet, but I hear he will tell Felix when he has tested everything.

I came into to land it (George doesn't have wheels on his base tube), and I could really tell the difference between the 95-100 pound Exxtacy and the 73 pound ATOS. It lands so nice. The Ghostbuster had landed well, but at 85 pounds you could tell the difference.

Anyway, I was really planning to write more about the Ghostbuster, and it was just an accident that I got a flight on an ATOS. More tomorrow.

Discuss "Flew George's ATOS, too." at the Oz Report forum   link»

ATOS – the whole nine yards »

Mon, Feb 28 2000, 8:30:00 pm GMT

ATOS|David "Dave" Sharp|Exxtacy|Flight Design|George Ferris|John Reynoldson|Rhett Radford|Wallaby Ranch

This Oz Report is a dedicated report on the ATOS. This report with the quite a few more photos can be found at http://www.davisstraub.com/Glide/atos.htm.

We all like what we fly, whether it is objectively that great or not. That said, my ATOS is by far the best hang glider that I have ever flown. It glides the best, it climbs the best, it is the easiest to handle, and it lands great. This says it all: my longest flight before ATOS – 165 miles (Exxtacy, Hobbs, NM.). Longest flight (so far) with ATOS 232 miles (Manilla, NSW, OZ).

Just because I think it is the best, doesn't mean it's perfect (or that someone else won't come out with a better one soon). There are lots of little things about the ATOS (and the pilot, for that matter) that I wish were a little bit better. I thought that it would be useful to list them (and qualify them where I could), so as to open a discussion about these issues, and to push along the development of rigid wing hang gliders.

Oz Report readers will remember that I wrote a long article about the little problems with the Exxtacy not too long after I got it. I also let Flight Design provide answers to my issues. I published the whole give and take and other publications picked up on it.

I have sent this list of issues to Felix and Berndt at AIR. I know that answering this article just cuts into their research, development, and production efforts, but then customer relations are also an important part of a total business operation. I have included their answers to my points, so that I can present a balanced picture.

Felix's responses are in blue.

As I go through these points, I may not be clear on certain items. Hopefully the give and take between Felix, Berndt and me will clear up any misunderstandings.

I found a good-sized crack in one of my leading edges (not the spar).

As I have not crashed my ATOS, and I didn't find any damage around the crack, I wondered where it came from. Did it come from transportation, i.e. while on a car top? There was no denting at all around it.

It was very easy to fix, but it made me nervous about where such cracks come from.

Was there a small deformation or just a crack, can you sent me a picture with description of the location?

Reconsideration and reflections:

I fixed the crack easily. There was no deformation in the d-spar.

Lots of dents

Perhaps these are entirely my fault. It appears that rigid wing gliders (well this didn't seem to be the case with my Exxtacy) need to have extra special care taken when transported. Padding that is good for flex wings is not enough for rigid wings. Racks should be square (they are on my truck, and Gilbert's son's car that I have here in Australia) and not round tubes. The racks should be well padded.

I've checked the Exxtacy and an ATOS prototype with honeycombs. The spar with honeycombs looked at first much better compared to other ATOS D-spars with foam and similar hours (about 200 hours). Checking later however we found more and bigger impacts on the spar with honeycombs. Because it is easy to check, the D-spar with foam sandwich is more practical be cause all damage done to the spar is visible.

Never the less every carbon surface is sensitive to puncture loads and shouldn’t be placed on an unpadded rack. We have special foam pads in stock which work well when transporting the glider on your car or cable car. These pads are fixed around the glider back with Velcro and can be stored in the glider during flight.

I wish the sail would resist damage a bit more successfully

Compared to flex wing hang gliders, the ATOS sail is very, very thin rip-stop nylon. Even compared to the Exxtacy it is very thin. This has a couple of advantages as far as I can tell. One is weight reduction. Two, elastic fit around the D-cell leading edges and to the trailing edge.

The disadvantage is that it is easy to cut the sail, put holes in it, permanently deform small bits of it, and weaken it. Almost all the damage comes while the glider is packed up. Other surfaces inside the sail and outside it rub together and cause the problems.

A number of these packing problems were, in my case, due to manufacturing errors, or lack of final quality control. There wasn't a rubber piece over the piece of keel where the back wires connect. There wasn't a foam piece over that rubber cover. There isn't a foam cover over the flap pit pins at the keel (I added one). This is necessary to keep the pins from punching holes in the sail (too late for me).

During packing, getting the wires anywhere near the back edges of the D-cell and the downtubes can cut the sail. You have to be sure that the pad around the apex is pulled down (or when the glider is on the ground up-side down, up) to protect the sail when you lay down the down tubes.

The bolts on the rib that raises the spoilerons were put in backwards on my ATOS. This caused quite a bit of wear on the sail in this area. Felix at first told me that I was doing something wrong. I didn't believe him, and then I discovered the manufacturing error. Lesson, better not to blame the customer first, as it may come back to haunt you.

The edges of the carbon fiber (the back edge and the wing tip edges) are sharp and can wear on the sail or cut it. If you pack up the sail by folding the wing tip sail material at the ends of the D-cell, this can cause the sail to wear there. You would do this to allow the glider to fit more easily into the bag, for example (more on this later).

This issue of easy sail damage is probably one of the biggest problems. AIR must make sure that they manufacturer the glider correctly, that they pad everything, and that they send out repair material. I'm sure that anyone looking at my six-month-old glider would be quite upset to think that their glider would look like that in six months. I have little patches everywhere and there are new holes forming. This doesn't do a great sales job for ATOS.

I know that Felix has tried thicker sails. Perhaps they have disadvantages that pilots won't put up with. At least AIR could ship the gliders with a complete patch kit for the sails.

We tested many different sail materials. The ATOS sail (polyester) is not only lighter it showed less wear compared to a thicker sail we’ve tested. The main reason for the damage you detail are locations were the sail touch hard parts like screws or carbon edges. A thicker sail wouldn’t help much. It is more important is to solve the problems at their source.

We spent a lot of time discovering all the points and padding them. Your glider was one of the first gliders made and in some cases we didn't detect the wear points in advance be cause the gliders before were packed little bit different or just had less flight time.

Thanks to the feedback of the first pilots we have improved this. We have protections at pulleys , rib hinges and for the edge of the D-spar (see pictures below). All this things are available as retrofit and the first customers will get this parts for no cost just be contacting us. Additionally the very first customers who had the option price like you can get a new sail for manufacturing cost.

Reconsideration and reflections:

Recently here at Wallaby Ranch, I looked at George Ferris' ATOS sail and it is absolutely pristine. He had better protection and was able to avoid all these problems.

It's not clear how to fold in the wing tip extra material

The ATOS comes with curved wing tips. Take out the tip wands, and the tubes that connect to the end of the D-cells, and you have quite a bit of material that needs folding. Even Felix couldn't figure out a good way to fold this when I saw him do it in Italy at the Worlds.

The problem is that you have to fold the material enough to allow the bag to go around the ends of the D-cell. You also have to allow the spoilerons to fold correctly onto each other so that they can fit in the bag on top of the D-cells. I sure wish there were a good formula from AIR for how to do this.

That’s right it is a little bit difficult be cause there are many possibilities.

Enclosed you'll find the method which we determined to the most practicable.

Turnbuckle breaks off pieces of the whack tube's outer sleeve.

This was a problem with the Exxtacy also. If you don't rotate the turnbuckle all the way counter clockwise before spreading the wings (one of the first things you do when setting up the ATOS), the unclipped end of the turnbuckle will lodge itself inside the whack tube sleeve and knock off a piece of it on the left hand side (pilot facing forward). Even if you do rotate it, it is easy for it to fall back and still hook the sleeve when you spread the wings.

I've knocked off three pieces of the sleeve so far, and I try to be sure that the turnbuckle is swung out every time. I lost one of the A4 bolts (cylinders actually) that connect the turnbuckle to the leading edge of the D-cell. I have replaced it with a hardware-store bolt while I await a new A4 bolt. The replacement bolt holds the turnbuckle in even more and has helped me take the last two sleeve pieces off.

See below.

I wish I had a cam or a lever rather than a turnbuckle

The nose turnbuckle has the advantage of being very flexible. You can adjust it as your glider adjusts (you make measurements of the nose angle). The problem is that often it is difficult to turn, and you feel that you may be straining the system.

I often find the tail end of the keel is sitting on the ground when I am attempting to tighten the turnbuckle. The tail is supposed to be off the ground in order to allow the pilot to push down on the front of the keel and take tension off the turnbuckle while turning it. The wing tips are supposed to be on the ground so that pushing on the front of the keel pushes the leading edges together as the wing tips are held in place.

I often find that this doesn't work, even on flat ground. Perhaps the keel should be a little shorter.

I am a bit torn by this issue. I like the solid nature of the turnbuckle, and worry about a cam just flipping open. I know that the turnbuckle has been designed to fail before the carbon fiber rings on the D-cell. I also know that the forces on the front nosepiece should be no greater than the sail tension.

When I inadvertently lost my A4 bolt to my turnbuckle, I was running with my ATOS in a field into a 20 mile per hour wind without the turnbuckle connected and the wings did not fold up (except about 1° of nose angle), so I have had some experience with the forces on the nose.

If Berndt and Felix want to say that it is just the case that the customer has to be careful, I can accept that. But I do know from speaking with Oliver, who worked at the factory, that even Berndt and Felix would have the same problems as I do.

The turn buckle is a well designed part for its purpose, but it requires special attention like you mentioned. Our new lever has several advantages. You tighten the fitting before fixing the tip and ribs. Then it is possible to insert the tips without holding the wing. This method help you also to keep the sail clean and makes it more comfortable to insert the tips.

The fitting folds out automatically and can’t damage a part if you forget to fold out the fitting.

It is not necessary to remove a bolt or ring (except one Quick Pin) so you can’t lose them and you save assembling time.

The new fittings are already available as retrofit. If you however used to the turnbuckle and don’t care about the extra assembling time or comfort there is no need to change.

new nose catch saves assembling time (available as retrofit)

Reconsideration and reflections:

I have found that if I just move one of the wing tips forward when the turn buckle gets hard to turn, that this solves the problem. There was no need to shorten the keel, or really complain. I just had to know to walk out to the tip and pull it forward an extra couple of inches (after I had already done this before I started turning the turn turn buckle.

I wish the whack tube wouldn't tear a hole in the sleeve in a hard whack

I'm a bit torn on this one also. I realize that the whack tube and its sleeve are supposed to be sacrificial items. That is, you are supposed to replace them if you have a very bad landing. I have had only two nose overs in my ATOS (I have wheels). One was in a gust front at the Austrian Nationals. The only damage was a bit of lengthening of the hole in the sleeve that allows the pop-up from the whack tube to lock in.

The present design is probably the right design, but perhaps we should get a couple of extra whack tubes and sleeves when we order a glider (just as standard items). My whack tube itself has suffered no damage (other than a slightly bent pin, which I was able to straighten). People who saw me flying my Exxtacy might remember that my whack tube didn't have a cap. That way when I whacked, I could use the ground as a cushion, since I could dig a divot.

I've found the ATOS really easy to land, so the percentage of whacks is now quite small (say compared to the Exxtacy, which wasn't that hard to land). The light weight of the ATOS contributes to the ease with which one can rotate it. I also recommend not pulling on the flaps all the way for landing, as the ATOS (and the Exxtacy) pushes back hard when you flare if you do have them all the way on. The only reason for full flaps would be a very short field.

That’s right. It is easier to flare with less flap. It is possible to land shorter with full flap deflection. I personally prefer to use only full flap position for landing to have enough practice if I need it.

There are now little folds of sail material near the ends of the D-cell

The sail material shrinks a bit, as you can see by looking for a bit of carbon fiber leading edge near the nose of the glider. At the factory there is no little strip of leading edge showing here. Perhaps there is a way to adjust the sail so that the little folds are taken away, but I don't know what to do at the moment.

I don't know how much difference it makes, but everyone always wants to have a nice tight sail. It may require that I tighten up the ribs (more on this later). Maybe tightening the tip wands, but at the moment they appear to want me to loosen them up.

I have noticed that on one sail the Velcro keeps unhooking at the wing end of the D-cell. Perhaps this sail is too tight (too close to the nose). I guess that I am just looking for some guidance here.

Unlike flex wing gliders, the Exxtacy and the ATOS are very adjustable. This puts some responsibility on the pilot to adjust them correctly, and responsibility on AIR to tell you how to adjust the ATOS. You can adjust the nose angle, sail tension straps, zipper tension, sail placement at the nose and ends of the D-cell, batten tension, flap and spoileron placement, spoileron wire tension and stop point on the spoilerons. A lot of adjustments to get correct.

The sail material shrinks a bit, as you can see by looking for a bit of carbon fiber leading edge near the nose of the glider. At the factory there is no little strip of leading edge showing here. Perhaps there is a way to adjust the sail so that the little folds are taken away, but I don't know what to do at the moment.

I don't know how much difference it makes, but everyone always wants to have a nice tight sail. It may require that I tighten up the ribs (more on this later). Maybe tightening the tip wands, but at the moment they appear to want me to loosen them up.

I have noticed that on one sail the Velcro keeps unhooking at the wing end of the D-cell. Perhaps this sail is too tight (too close to the nose). I guess that I am just looking for some guidance here.

Unlike flex wing gliders, the Exxtacy and the ATOS are very adjustable. This puts some responsibility on the pilot to adjust them correctly, and responsibility on AIR to tell you how to adjust the ATOS. You can adjust the nose angle, sail tension straps, zipper tension, sail placement at the nose and ends of the D-cell, batten tension, flap and spoileron placement, spoileron wire tension and stop point on the spoilerons. A lot of adjustments to get correct.

answer below (tightening the rib)

The top and bottom trailing edges don't line up

The bottom trailing edge near the wing tip on one side is now a little forward of the top trailing edge. This means that the Velcro doesn't line up. One would think that the sail isn't fitted around the leading edge correctly. I'll have to check this again.

The bottom trailing edge near the wing tip on one side is now a little forward of the top trailing edge. This means that the Velcro doesn't line up. One would think that the sail isn't fitted around the leading edge correctly. I'll have to check this again.

A small tolerance here is acceptable. It has no influence to the aerodynamic. However to get it optically perfect you can attach the sail at the root that the upper side is little bit longer the bottom side should be little bit shorter to get a nicer look. The Velcro connection which fix the sail at the tip has to be adjusted in the same direction to adjust the sail right.

The sticky Velcro is stronger than its glue

Sticky Velcro is used on the flaps and spoilerons. The problem is the Velcro is stickier than the glue. If you try to undo the Velcro, it comes unglued first. AIR has sewn some of the sticky Velcro on the flaps to overcome this problem. Unfortunately they didn't completely sew it on the flaps or the spoilerons. Take off a spoileron, and the Velcro tries to come off the spoileron first.

The Velcro at the outside ends of the flaps is not sewn, so it comes off. I really can't get mine to stick now. Perhaps if I had a really strong sewing machine I could fix this up.

The Velcro is now completely stitched and not as strong. I hope you find somebody with a stitching machine there or you can wait for the next check at AIR or ALTAIR. If not we will replace the spoiler. Till then you can fix with new sticky Velcro. The standard Velcro is not as strong and not stronger than the glue.

The fiberglass at the outside ends of the spoilerons has broken

Perhaps due to folding problems, the fiberglass pieces have split along the Velcro line. In one case the split went along the Velcro about 4 inches. I have tacked it back together with carbon fiber, although I could have used fiberglass.

Perhaps the spoilerons are too long to be folded easily. Perhaps there just needs to be a little reinforcement there.

We reinforced this area with Aramid and additionally shortened the spoiler there so that it is little bit easier to pack . The easiest way for fixing if this occurs is to use a self sticking sail or Velcro at this area from the bottom side.

area which needs special attention when packing the glider

critical area for packing (outer side of the spoiler)

It is difficult to keep the bottom trailing edge of the sail covering the front edge of the flaps.

This just seems to be a fitting problem. Perhaps the bottom of the sail could be made a bit deeper to cover the front edge of the flaps that are Velcroed up inside it. Perhaps it just requires that the pilot Velcro the flaps further into the sail. I noticed that everyone at the Worlds had this problem, including Felix. You would have to take your finger and go along the bottom trailing edge of the glider by the flaps, and make sure that the sail wasn't tucked under the front edge of the carbon fiber flaps.

This just seems to be a fitting problem. Perhaps the bottom of the sail could be made a bit deeper to cover the front edge of the flaps that are Velcroed up inside it. Perhaps it just requires that the pilot Velcro the flaps further into the sail. I noticed that everyone at the Worlds had this problem, including Felix. You would have to take your finger and go along the bottom trailing edge of the glider by the flaps, and make sure that the sail wasn't tucked under the front edge of the carbon fiber flaps.

The tolerance to install this was quite small. After some flights the flap comes little bit out. To get the right fit the flap has to be fixed with the Velcro more inside that the position after some flights is still right. A good way to fix this is to adjust the Velcro and deflecting the flap several times to check the position once again.

At the new sails the bottom sail is longer and provides a higher tolerance for the adjustment.

Perhaps the flaps are just a bit too long, because if you move them out a bit when installing them the outside end of the flap interferes with the rib.

The length and breadth of the flaps is a bit arbitrary to begin with, so it wouldn't seem to be a big deal to remove an inch or so from the end of the flap to keep it from interfering with the nearest rib. The pilot can install the flap a tiny bit closer to the keel, and that solves the problem, but it seems like the tolerances are a bit tighter than they need to be.

I was able to get rid of any waves in the flaps by unhooking the flaps and re Velcroing them back into the sail. I believe that John Reynoldson was referring to the wavy flaps on my ATOS when he said that there were some minor problems with the ATOS trailing edge. It was easy to fix.

But once I fixed it, I noticed that the end of the flap was too close to the nearest rib. I could undo the flap again and reposition it, but it didn't seem to be that much off to begin with. Perhaps AIR wants to make sure that it isn't required that the flap be exactly in the right spot.

The flaps are in the right place when they didn’t interfere each other in the middle and when the distance between the flap is not wider than about 10mm (we adjust it with 5mm). The flap at the very first Atos like you have were a little bit longer than now. If you shorten and round the outer side of the flap you will get the same shape like we have now and it will be easier for packing. A good distance between flap end and rib is about 6cm.

The pulley at the back of the flap rope flips over and causes the flap rope to wear out.

AIR puts in a shrink-wrap piece that is supposed to keep this from happening, but it is now wearing out on my ATOS. I expect that the pulley will soon flip and cause the rope to wear.

AIR puts in a shrink-wrap piece that is supposed to keep this from happening, but it is now wearing out on my ATOS. I expect that the pulley will soon flip and cause the rope to wear.

Even if this shrink tube wears the pulley will not flip over if the knot

It was easy to fit my Exxtacy speed bar onto my ATOS

AIR sent me two end plugs that fit into the ATOS control frame hardware. I fashioned two shims that allowed the plugs to form a tight fit with the sleeves in my Wallaby Ranch, Rhett-and-Ryan Exxtacy aero-steel base-tube. All I had to do was bolt the plugs into the base tube using the already perfectly positioned holes, and I had an aero base tube.

The large pulley wheel on one of my D-cells has partially disintegrated

Perhaps it got a bit wet. It is made of bakelight. The other pulley is fine. The other pulleys are metal, but they need to be greased or the bearing don't work very well and the rope wears. I've put some Phil's grease on all my pulleys. I noticed rope wear around all the pulleys.

AIR sent me two end plugs that fit into the ATOS control frame hardware. I fashioned two shims that allowed the plugs to form a tight fit with the sleeves in my Wallaby Ranch, Rhett-and-Ryan Exxtacy aero-steel base-tube. All I had to do was bolt the plugs into the base tube using the already perfectly positioned holes, and I had an aero base tube.

The large pulley wheel on one of my D-cells has partially disintegrated

Perhaps it got a bit wet. It is made of bakelight. The other pulley is fine. The other pulleys are metal, but they need to be greased or the bearing don't work very well and the rope wears. I've put some Phil's grease on all my pulleys. I noticed rope wear around all the pulleys.

Water should not be a problem for the pulleys. However while these pulleys are built to an aeronautical standard, the quality is not perfect. Perhaps one pulley has a different look because we sometimes smoothen the surface if we find irregularities at the check. If there is a damage at the pulley especially at the area where the control cable is connected the pulley has to be replaced.

The bag needs more padding at the ends, especially the nose.

There is a lot of metal in the nose, and it wears out the bag.

Perhaps I'm a wimp, but cams on the wing tips would be nice.

Perhaps it is just an issue of getting the proper adjustments, especially as the sail shrinks a bit, but at the moment the wing tips are very tight (too tight?). It is quite a struggle to get the lines on and off.

I really enjoyed the cams on the Exxtacy. They were inside the sail and they were easy to use. I sure hope that Felix decides on how to deal with this issue.

There is a lot of metal in the nose, and it wears out the bag.

Perhaps I'm a wimp, but cams on the wing tips would be nice.

Perhaps it is just an issue of getting the proper adjustments, especially as the sail shrinks a bit, but at the moment the wing tips are very tight (too tight?). It is quite a struggle to get the lines on and off.

I really enjoyed the cams on the Exxtacy. They were inside the sail and they were easy to use. I sure hope that Felix decides on how to deal with this issue.

The news Atoses have cams which work well and provide a possibility to adjust the sail with different tension. This levers are available as retrofit.

tip lever

Reconsideration and reflections:

The problem I was having was due to the fact that the sail had shrunk about ⅜" along the span of the wing, and I hadn't increased the length of the string on the tip wand, or moved the sail away from the nose by that amount. The tension kept getting tighter and tighter, so it became quite difficult to put the tip wands on. Once I started adjusting the sail to make up for the small shrinkage all thes problems went away.

Is AIR going to come up with their own speed bar with skids?

I do like my thin little steel speed bar, but I can't put the wheels with brakes on it because the hubs are too small to go around the bar (at least it seems that way to me). I currently have to use my other thin plastic wheels that don't have brakes on them.

Yes we have a carbon speed bar available with skids right now.

Reconsideration and reflections:

Send me one!

One special hassle is connecting the spoileron to the base tube

My ATOS is a bit older so that it is more of a hassle. You have to pull the pit pin almost but not quite all the way out of the plastic piece at the bottom of the down tube, in order to slide in the spoileron wire. You have to do this while the glider is completely set up. It is a pain.

Fortunately the design was changed for later ATOSes so that you didn't have to pull the pit pin out quite as far. I hope those pilots like this change.

I must say that the hardware on the ATOS is for the most party very streamlined, elegant, and well thought out. If it wasn't for this spoileron wire connection problem I would say that these corner brackets are the best I've ever seen.

My ATOS is a bit older so that it is more of a hassle. You have to pull the pit pin almost but not quite all the way out of the plastic piece at the bottom of the down tube, in order to slide in the spoileron wire. You have to do this while the glider is completely set up. It is a pain.

Fortunately the design was changed for later ATOSes so that you didn't have to pull the pit pin out quite as far. I hope those pilots like this change.

I must say that the hardware on the ATOS is for the most party very streamlined, elegant, and well thought out. If it wasn't for this spoileron wire connection problem I would say that these corner brackets are the best I've ever seen.

connection of the spoiler cable (important: safety cap must be on to secure the pin and to keep the end of the pin clean)

Yes it is changed and the first brackets can be replaced or reworked (drilling a longer whole) to get the new connection. A longer Quick Pin is necessary.

I like the heavy duty construction of the spars as shown at the nose conjunctions

The ATOSes look beefy at the nose, perhaps even beefier than the later Exxtacies. It gives one the perception of a safe joint connecting the two leading edges together.

The ATOSes look beefy at the nose, perhaps even beefier than the later Exxtacies. It gives one the perception of a safe joint connecting the two leading edges together.

It is very hard to say something about the strength from the look but the design load of the Atos is the same as at the Exxtacy and some things have received an additional safety factor like this root connection of the spar.

End of rib was chipped away

The ends of the ATOS' carbon fiber ribs seem to be made of some other material. They are formed into U-shaped slots that fit the metal cams that connect the sail to the ribs. The end of the outboard rib on my right-hand d-cell flaked off so that the cam wouldn't go on it any more.

I saw something similar happen to one of the ribs on an ATOS at the Worlds.

I was able to repair the end of the rib using carbon fiber, epoxy, and filler. We'll see if this lasts. Perhaps we could get some guidance on how to fix this problem.

The ends of the ATOS' carbon fiber ribs seem to be made of some other material. They are formed into U-shaped slots that fit the metal cams that connect the sail to the ribs. The end of the outboard rib on my right-hand d-cell flaked off so that the cam wouldn't go on it any more.

I saw something similar happen to one of the ribs on an ATOS at the Worlds.

I was able to repair the end of the rib using carbon fiber, epoxy, and filler. We'll see if this lasts. Perhaps we could get some guidance on how to fix this problem.

At some of the very first ribs the fibres didn’t go to the very end at the area where the metal cams are fixed. If the trailing edge touch the ground at a hard landing the metal cam of the outer rib can damage the end of the rib. After detecting this we changed the lay up process and additionally we used new designed metal cams which should fail before the rib fail. With this combination we haven’t had a failure there.

I've had three broken ribs (on my ATOS)

Two of the ribs were broken at the Worlds. Dave Sharp added a bunch of carbon fiber to them when he fixed them, and there are been no problems since. These first two were the number eight ribs at the ends of the D-cells. They are easy to break if your flair isn't perfectly even and one wing touches before the other.

AIR is well aware of this problem, and one fix is to install little pins that break off first. I wonder if they send out a bunch with each new ATOS?

The third rib was an outer rib. It also was quite easy to fix and hasn't caused a problem since. This rib is hinged so it should take any impacts. I saw another rib like this one broken at the worlds.

Fixing ribs is very easy and quick. I flew with the broken number nine rib for a week before fixing it as it had just delaminated and otherwise was fine.

Two of the ribs were broken at the Worlds. Dave Sharp added a bunch of carbon fiber to them when he fixed them, and there are been no problems since. These first two were the number eight ribs at the ends of the D-cells. They are easy to break if your flair isn't perfectly even and one wing touches before the other.

AIR is well aware of this problem, and one fix is to install little pins that break off first. I wonder if they send out a bunch with each new ATOS?

The third rib was an outer rib. It also was quite easy to fix and hasn't caused a problem since. This rib is hinged so it should take any impacts. I saw another rib like this one broken at the worlds.

Fixing ribs is very easy and quick. I flew with the broken number nine rib for a week before fixing it as it had just delaminated and otherwise was fine.

This is a very sensitive location for rigid wings. On one hand the wing has to be stiff in order to not change the pitch up moment but on the other hand it has to be flexible or strong enough too not break during a hard landing. The first Atos rib were not very strong in order to protect the D-spar. We reinforced this rib after noticing this week point and fixed it with a special bolt to get a predetermining breaking point there. This rib bolt fails before the rib or the D-spar get damaged. If the tip would be stronger the outer rib wouldn’t fail cause the load is taken by the tip and introduced the load to the D-spar, which can fail like it happened at very hard landings on the tip of the Exxtacy.

We've had good experience with this solution at the Atos now and haven’t had a broken rib since, considering the last four month and about 150 gliders. However it still could be damaged and is designed to fail before something fails at the D-spar. It must be checked after a hard landing.

It is unclear how tight to set the cams at the rib ends

The ATOS comes from the factory with really pretty tight ribs. The tightness is adjusted by a piece of Velcro that sets the placement of the cams on the rib ends. It would seem that you want to adjust the Velcro so that the cams can be put in place without undue stress on your fingers and arms, but as tight as possible. I want to be able to just flip on the cams with my thumb without creating any creases in my thumb.

The ATOS comes from the factory with really pretty tight ribs. The tightness is adjusted by a piece of Velcro that sets the placement of the cams on the rib ends. It would seem that you want to adjust the Velcro so that the cams can be put in place without undue stress on your fingers and arms, but as tight as possible. I want to be able to just flip on the cams with my thumb without creating any creases in my thumb.

To tighten the sail well it is usually necessary the tighten the ribs with different tension. The tension should increase from the root rib no.1 to the tip rib no.8+9. We set the ribs a little bit stronger when the glider is new. The reasons is, that the sail and seams get stretched a little bit and after the first flights the chance is pretty good to get the right tension. However this only works well when the temperature and humidity changes are not too big. Under very warm and dry conditions it will be necessary to adjust the sail to be a bit more lose and under cold and wet conditions it will be necessary to retighten the sail. If the tension is too high you get wrinkles like it is shown in the picture below.

You can see in the picture below the right way to tighten and untighten the ribs. Two things are important: 1. Be sure that the cam fits correctly before turning. 2. Never pull or push at the rib, only the metal lever.

tightening the rib wrinkles in the sail when the tension is to high

After some flights or under different conditions it is also necessary to tighten the webbing which connect the sail to the keel. If it is too tight you will have wrinkles and the nose fitting is hard to close.

To adjust the tip with the right tension we tighten it till the trailing edge gets lose and loosen it again to have high tension with a tight trailing edge. The tension there is usually quite high. With the new levers you get this tension easy so it is good to check the tension at the trailing edge in order to not overload the sail or rivet. Without lever it is hard to get to much tension.

checking the tension at the trailing edge

With the rib ends completely inside the sail, the trailing edge doesn't form a smooth edge

There are rises in the top surface of the trailing edge as the sail goes over the ribs. The top Velcro doesn't contact bottom surface Velcro at these points. There is not a smooth trailing edge.

There are rises in the top surface of the trailing edge as the sail goes over the ribs. The top Velcro doesn't contact bottom surface Velcro at these points. There is not a smooth trailing edge.

It should be smooth but there are small rises be cause there is no Velcro close to the rib to have a better handling when opening the cams. (hope I understand you right here )

Reconsideration and reflections:

I just meant the the trailing edge wasn't smooth and tight. Because the ribs are inside the sail, the trailing edge has a series of bumps in it at each rib. Also, you can't close the trailing edge at the rib, as it gets in the way. So the trailing edge is open a bit.

The sail is attached to the leading edge at the nose using Velcro. The Velcro on the leading edges in epoxied onto the leading edge. It doesn't come unglued.

Unlike on the older Exxtacies, the Velcro on the ATOS doesn't come unglued on the nose. This is a great relief. I personally epoxied the Velcro on my Exxtacy, so it is good to see this on the ATOS.

The sail comes off the ATOS is about ten seconds

This makes it easy to examine the leading edges (which unfortunately appear to need regular examination).

It’s very easy to repair carbon fiber

Some of my repairs even look good. Took me about half an hour to repair the large crack in one D-cell. I'm getting better at this, but with a little practice anyone can do it. I carry around a small repair kit with epoxy and carbon fiber from Flight Design. Every pilot should obtain a repair kit from AIR or Flight Design.

Adjusting the zipper is problematic

I just decided to loosen the zipper at the starting ends, as I could never get it to start zipping otherwise. Felix says to leave it tight, but that didn't work for me. I assume that as the sail shrinks you need to loosen the zipper a bit.

That’s right. The zipper should be loose to get an easy start then tight and a little less tight to the end. This is usually the best setting in order to avoid wrinkles.

Reconsideration and reflections:

As my problems with the zipper and the tip wands were due to the fact that I hadn't adjusted the sail the account for its mall shrinkage. Once I did that, everything worked well. It was easy to adjust the Velcro on the zippers. If the sail shrank much more (which I don't think it will do), I would appreciate having 3" on Velcro on each side of the zipper instead of just 2".

Thanks for your report and feedback, your glider was one of the first and many things are changed with thanks to the good feed back of many Atos customer. All things we changed are available as retrofit. A new sail for the very first customer is available for the manufacturing price and the pads for no cost. An other update is the new nose cover (see picture below) which covers the nose tube and improves slightly the aerodynamic in this area. Enclosed more pictures of some new details which are available.

Discuss "ATOS – the whole nine yards" at the Oz Report forum   link»

More on the storm in Florida

Mon, Feb 28 2000, 5:15:00 pm GMT

George Ferris|Josef "Joe" "Hangczech" Bostik|Mark "Gibbo" Gibson|Mark Poustinchian

The rapidly moving cold front that came through yesterday had plenty of pilots to feed on.

Mark Poustinchian, <markpoustinchian@hotmail.com>, writes:

I flew north on Sunday and was at 6000' a few miles south of Gainesville when I saw the front and the big cloud's shade over Gainesville. As much as I hate going back, I turned around and tried to make it back toward Quest Air. There was too much head wind and every inch of my body was in pain.

Joe Bostik (Wills Wing factory sponsored pilot on a Fusion) and George Ferris (on an ATOS) got back to Wallaby Ranch at 3 AM in the morning (due to logistics problems), so I didn’t get to hear their horror stories until today.

While Gibbo and I were going up the west side of the Ocala National Forest, east of Gainesville, Joe was headed up the west side of Gainesville. I pretty good trick considering how far west you have to go to get there.

When he the storm clouds ahead, he was able to get into the wave in front of the clouds and rid it for 20 miles in 0 to 100 fpm up across Gainesville to the east. He then saw the wall of gray and landed as quickly as he could at a small airport.

He said that unlike gust fronts in the west, the rain was hitting him before the gust front line, which he could see on the lakes. He got into a hangar, but the rain was so hard that it came through any cracks and was raining in the hangar.

George was out ahead on the same wave in front of the rainstorm. He thought that he could get around it, but when he finally was able to see up to the north, he saw the wall of water. At approximately 145 miles out from Wallaby Ranch, he turned and ran south for 10 miles to try to get away from the gust front, all to no avail.

He pulled in the bar to his knees to bring the glider down, but was still going backwards, so the winds were over 70 mph up higher. As he got near the ground, the winds decreased, but he still landed going backwards never letting go of the base tube.

George got very lucky and there were five people in the field to help him. They went up and grabbed the glider, and then the rains hit. They had moved the glider behind a building but the winds were still strong and they needed to help him hold down the glider. Everyone got completely soaked as they waited out in the wind and rain for 15 minutes until the winds died down.

I've flown in a rainstorm in Florida at the last Nationals, but didn't have these kinds of problems. Usually we have plenty of warning about a storm, but this was a very fast moving front. You could see the back edge of it two hours later as it was all clear to the west at sunset.

Almost all my flying in Florida has been in completely mellow conditions, and I got down in time to have my glider just in the bag as the gust front came through.

Discuss "More on the storm in Florida" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Bo, you go »

Sat, Feb 26 2000, 5:40:00 pm EST

Bo Hagewood|Florida|George Ferris|Ghostbuster|Kurt Warren|Mark "Gibbo" Gibson|Mark Gibson|Paris Williams|Quest Air|record|Tyson Richmond|Wallaby Ranch|Wills Wing

Bo Hagewood|Florida|George Ferris|Ghostbuster|Kurt Warren|Mark "Gibbo" Gibson|Mark Gibson|Paris Williams|Quest Air|record|Tyson Richmond|Wallaby Ranch|Wills Wing

Not to rub it in, but it's good here in Florida. Yesterday, Bo Hagwood, Quest Air tug pilot, flew his Flytec-sponsored Wills Wing Fusion 141 miles from Quest Air to Perry (the Athena Baptist Church) in the Florida panhandle. This was (at the time) the third longest flight in Florida (moved my 137 miler on my Exxtacy into fourth place), and the longest flight to the west.

Quest Air is 25 miles to the north of Wallaby Ranch and therefore has the advantage when it comes to east south-east conditions. Bo didn't have to get around the Green Swamp. While Bo was going for a long flight, a good number of Wallaby Ranch pilots flew west and were stopped by the coast. Former Wallaby Ranch tug pilot, Kurt Warren, landed off the coast of Florida on a small key near Crystal River.

There was a rigid wing pilot that flew with Bo, and only got 115 miles. To avoid embarrassing him, I won't mention his name or glider

Today it got even better, although the wind was still out of the east for the most part. Pilots flew to the north and went long distances.

Mark P. flew his Ghostbuster from Quest Air 157 miles to Jasper, Florida, 5 miles short of the Georgia border. He landed at a family backyard barbeque and joined the party. This is the second longest flight in Florida, and the new rigid wing record for Quest Air. Campbell Bowen flew his brand new Ghostbuster on its maiden flight to Live Oak – 139 miles.

Here's a shot of the nine Ghostbusters and two Exxtacies that got delivered today at Quest Air.

Mark Gibson in his Ghostbuster started late and flew approximately 115 miles from Wallaby Ranch to Starke, Florida, just the spot that we went to last year. George Ferris flew over 100 miles on his ATOS past Gainesville. Paris Williams, a Wills Wing and Flytec sponsored pilot, flew 100 miles on a Fusion, and Tyson Richmond, flying his Exxtacy landed with Paris near Gainesville. All three of them should be back here around midnight. Gibbo and Albo got back about an hour ago.

As far as I can recall, more 100-mile flights occurred today in Florida, then at any previous time. Michael Champlin's Florida state record is still 167 miles, and no one has made Georgia yet. Also no one has claimed the $1000 prize for making the Georgia border from Wallaby Ranch.

Flyability

Tue, Feb 1 2000, 11:00:04 pm GMT

Belinda Boulter|Davis Straub|George Ferris|Steve Varden

Steve Varden was the subject of George Ferris' article, "Euro pilot at Wallaby," in a recent Oz Report (https://OzReport.com/Ozv4n22.htm). Belinda asked Steve, <Steve_Varden@compuserve.com>, for his physical address so that folks could make donations to Flyability. The address is given below.

Steve wrote back and said:

"After visiting the Oz web site I've just realised that I have one of Davis's books beside me on my book-shelf. Win95 Secrets is one of my trusty bibles! I'd be very honored to make the acquaintance of such a guru as Davis"

Awfully nice!

I've placed three articles by Steve up on my web site. You'll find "What is Flyability? At http://www.davisstraub.com/Glide/flyability.htm, "Understanding Disability at http://www.davisstraub.com/Glide/disability.htm, and "Training Pilots with Disabilities" at http://www.davisstraub.com/Glide/training.htm

The Flyability Treasurer
British Hang Gliding & Paragliding Association
The Old Schoolroom,
Loughborough Road,
Leicester,
Leicestershire,
LE4 5PJ
ENGLAND
Tel. +44 ( 0)116 2611322
FAX. +44 ( 0) 116 2611323.

Euro pilot at Wallaby Ranch

Sun, Jan 30 2000, 6:00:02 pm EST

Davis Straub|George Ferris|PG|Steve Varden|Wallaby Ranch

cart|Davis Straub|George Ferris|PG|Steve Varden|Wallaby Ranch

Davis Straub|George Ferris|PG|Steve Varden|Wallaby Ranch

George Ferris,«Wallabyranch»,sends in a different one:

This January while at Wallaby I was making my way to the bathhouse and noticed an individual attempting to open one of the bathhouse doors. His actions seemed to be out of control. His arms hands gyrating back and forth over his head and at the same time he was swaying one way then the other, his spindly legs barely supporting him. As I watched he managed to open the door and enter the bathroom letting the door close behind him. It must have taken him a minute to walk from the outside of the door to the inside. How he managed to get to the door and where he appeared from I did not know. The only thing near by was a golf cart. Maybe someone had dropped him off but there was no one around. That evening I asked someone what the story was. I was told, "the guys is Steve. He has cerebral palsy and made the journey from England with Judy Leden's group. I didn't ask any more.

The following day I awoke to the roar of the tug planes towing tandem gliders into the air and jumped out of bed to observe. It's always a thrill to watch people's first flight, their apprehensiveness, and then their elation as they takeoff into the air. This particular morning I noticed Steve sitting on one of the golf carts used to shuttle people around. He had a constant smile on his face. I didn't know much about cerebral palsy but I notice that Steve seemed collected. There was no gyrating hands flailing around like he was signaling someone desperately like the day before.

The tandem glider came in an landed with its usually ear to ear smiling passenger. As the passenger was stepping out of the harness I heard Malcolm holler out " come on Steve your next". I turned to look at Steve who, still smiling, was already out of the golf cart and making his way to the glider 10 feet or so away. He was gyrating wildly and I kept thinking that his spindly legs would snap at any moment sending him to the ground. I felt the need to help him but resisted.

As he reached the glider he was helped, like anyone else, to step into the harness. I was captivated, like others were, by his out of control motor movements. His body was twitching out of control his hands and arms going in every direction like he was trying to swat a fly. As he lay down in the harness he fought to guide his hands toward the control bar.

When he finally managed to grab onto the basebar, an amazing thing happened, all his gyrations came to a halt and still smiling he look straight forward and started laughing. I could hear Malcolm talking to him but could not make out his responses. I thought it was the roar of the engine that restricted me from hearing him. I would later find that for Steve to talk was as difficult as guiding his hands to the basebar. Controlling the mussels of his mouth to form a word was a feat in itself.

That evening I went out to eat at my favorite restaurant, Perkins. I was waiting to be seated when I heard a voice call my name. It was a few of the guys that were visiting the Ranch from England. They invited me to sit with them. As I walked to the table I noticed Steve's wheelchair, and saw that he was sitting in the booth with them. I said hello to Chris and Mike who I had met earlier and introduced myself to Steve. Struggling to make the mussels in his face conform to a word, that was unclear to me, he said hello. He followed with a series of questions that had to be interpreted to me by his companions. It would be a few hours before I was able to understand anything that Steve was saying.

Chris knew I was writing a Setup Breakdown Procedure for the Atos and they asked me how it was going. I explained that it was all going well until a short time ago when my laptop locked up and I lost an hours worth of work and worse yet I couldn't get the document back. Steve spoke up and volunteered to take a look at it.

It's funny how foolish we can be sometimes, OK, how foolish I can be sometimes. I mean, I assumed that because Steve's had a physical disability he must be mentally handicapped. What a pompous ass I am.

It seems strange how fate works. My computer crashes and I go to Perkins to drowned my sorrow in Pie al la mode. The next thing I know I'm in my hooch (the room I stay in at the ranch) with this guy that I peg for an idiot a hour ago who is about to teach me, in one week, more about positive human spirit than I have acquired in a lifetime.

That evening Steve stopped over to look at my computer. After a few minutes of watched Steve battle to strike the correct keys by holding the wrist of one hand with the other he look me in the eye with a serious look on his face, the first serious look I had seen from him and muttered something to me. I couldn't make it out at first but Steve always willingly and patently repeats the words until you can understand. "Yeyee MUC' what Steve? Yeeerrr FUNCHED, sorry Steve one more time "YOUR FUCKED"! The expression on my face must have gone from the hope that he could salvage my manuscript to the loss of two months of work. Your fucked was followed be hysterical laughter as his gyrating hands taped my laptop and made my manuscript appear. "You son-of-a-bitch Steve, I'll be on my toes from now on. No more feeling sorry for your ass!"

I learned that Steve was not only a computer wizard, having fully restored my document and then increased my computer memory by 85%, he was an accomplished hang glider pilot who had been flying since 1993.

Not only that, Steve Varden is the founder and head of a charitable organization called FLYABILITY. «Steve_Varden». Flyability is the Disability Initiative of the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association. Steve is responsible for raising the money for his charity which recruiting and pays for disabled individuals to learn the sport of hang gliding and achieve their solo ratings.

It was 8 AM the next morning and I was up bright and early to experience Steve's solo aerotow flight. Though he was an accomplished pilot he did not have his aerotow license and had come to Wallaby to seek the instruction to receive one. As like the previous day people watched in amassment as Steve made his way, from the golf cart WHICH HE DROVE, to his glider. After being harnessed in to a Falcon he received instructions from Malcolm and away he flew having a perfect tow to 2500 FT. I was there when he landed to congratulate him.

I spent the following two weeks doing various things with Steve and was amazed at his outlook on life. I can easily describe it in one word, POSITIVE. Steve never stopped smiling, not once, and his keen sense of humor always had us laughing.

Late, one evening a horn sounding outside my door. I looked out to find Steve behind the wheel of the van he had rented. He told me to get in, that they were going out partying and he was to be the designated driver. I was a little nervous about how he would be excepted tooling around in his wheel chair in the bars.

I was surprised once again, people especially the girls couldn't resist his smile. I asked Steve during our drive if he had any difficulty getting his license. He told me that it took him three years to convince British Motor vehicle to give him a permit. He was persistent until they gave him the break he needed, telling him he would half to take and pass a driver's course and produce a certificate before they would give him a permit. He did so readily and had his license with in that year. Steve told me that day while laughing and smiling, which he always did; that the only thing he hated in life was failing.

Steve drove to and from that night both in town and on the highway. It was an hour drive and the only time I realized he was driving was when he went to switch hands on the steering wheel. The hand that would leave his lap would gyrate wildly as he commanded it to the wheel. During the exchange there was always a slight warble, no a warble, of the car as one hand left the wheel and the other grasp on.

I did speak up one time and asked him if he would please not make the exchange while passing a tractor-trailer. He laughed loudly as he did several hand switches along side the tractor-trailer. As time went on I began to realize what a ball buster he was and for got about his disability and started treating him just like any other fellow pilot.

HEY. WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, I'M NEXT IN LINE, which I'm sure is what he wants from everyone.

ATOS Setup

Fri, Jan 21 2000, 11:00:01 pm GMT

ATOS|George Ferris

George Ferris, <Wallabyranch@cs.com>, has worked to make the setup process for an ATOS as fast and foolproof as possible. His procedure is much different than that practiced at the factory, but has been refined to get you in the air quickly. Here's a portion of the procedure:

15) Connect the turnbuckle **BUT DO NOT TIGHTEN THE TURNBUCKLE**.NOTE: If your turnbuckle is closed to the nut stops, de-tension the turnbuckle one or two turns before connecting it to the D-tube. It’s easier to cam in the ribs before tensioning the turnbuckle.

16) Put the keel extension (stinger) back in.

17) CAM IN RIBS #7-1.

FOLLOWING THE PROCEDURE cam in all the ribs ***EXCEPT # 8 & 9*** (# 1 is closest to the keel).

PROCEDURE: Caming in the ribs may seem difficult but with practice it will become easy. THERE IS A KNACK TO IT. The SLOT in the end of each rib MUST BE SET INTO THE DEEPEST PART OF THE “MOUTH”, of the “FISH CAM”, BEFORE attempting to swing the fish cam into the locked position.NOTE: START with the # 7 RIB**AFTER UNLOCKING** THE #8 RIB from behind the #7 rib. LOOK INTO THE SAIL TO UNLOCK THE # 8 rib. (Refer to paragraph #4 in the Breakdown section, which explains the purpose of locking the #8 rib in the opposite direction.)

His full setup and breakdown process is detailed in http://www.davisstraub.com/Glide/atossetup.htm.

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

Dave Sharp answers Scott's questions on the ATOS

Tue, May 4 1999, 10:00:04 pm GMT

ATOS|David "Dave" Sharp|George Ferris|Jamie Shelden|Scott Rutledge|Tyson Richmond

Dave Sharp <Flysharp1@aol.com>

I now have over 50 hours on the glider and thought I'd have you some feedback.

Scott Rutledge (who has ordered a Ghostbuster and currently owns an Exxtacy):

I have paid keen attention to the ATOS posts. It seems that the roll rate with these new higher aspect wings may be less?

Maybe slightly, I've had no problem with low saves and handling. Other pilots who have flown the glider have had no complaints with roll rate. I like to thermal with more flaps than I did with the Exxtacy, Felix sez there is not as much of a sink rate penalty with the flaps mostly on.

Scott Rutledge:

That kind of has me concerned about the GhostBuster being even higher aspect than the ATOS. Also, I have heard a rumor that the pitch pressure has increased and the top speed decreased for the ATOS versus the Exxtacy. What's with that? Any truth to that rumor?

My Atos has less pitch pressure than a poorly tuned Exxtacy, Lots less than the Ixbo (according to Johann). More pitch than a perfectly tuned Exx. Tyson (maybe 150 lbs) flew for an hour and had no complaints, going fast too. 60 mph no trouble, 70 plus you can do also buy you will get a bit tired after a while.

Jamie is the only one who mentioned it had more pitch than she like, but see admits she likes zero pitch. Or "very light."

Scott Rutledge:

The specs for the Ghostbuster show a higher glide with full flaps, and after reading George Ferris's post about landing downwind at Wallaby, I got to wondering if the landing characteristics were anything that may have changed, as well.

Landing is no problem, I'd really have to do some more flying on the Exx, to tell you which is better, the Atos comes in a couple of miles an hour faster but does not have that flair pressure the Exx does. All the demo pilots had good landings.

I expected the Atos to be quite a bit harder or advanced to fly than the Exx, I mean once you look at the wing with the tips, span and aspect, it really looks "hot". But I am very to please to say it's very close to the EXX, quite docile in every way.

With the span you do have to fly it a bit more in thermals as the Atos feels more roll neutral as opposed to wants to fly straight. Don't get me wrong, she tracks great, tows, etc., but if you are steep in the bank you will have to do a little high siding, much less to very little with more flap.

The Atos does seem to be 2 miles an hour faster, in many ways I feel I fly/fit better with the other HGs while duking out a themal.

The Atos seems to handle "the bumps" much better, maybe because the tips steps down twice and or because the last CBR rib can float a bit. NO speed bumps that I could tell. I've only done a few, but wingovers feel much better to me.

Also as far as I can tell, or have been told, my spoilerons stay down in flight.

Nothings perfect, the last couple of days I made a short list of some minor hardware changes or improvements that could stand to be made, most Felix has already planned and you won't see exactly the same hardware as my #1.

Bottom line, the glider flies great, has a couple extra points on glide, is lighter, stronger and has some slick hardware.

The E-7 looks very nice too, but one look at it, and I felt it wouldn't have the glide of an Atos. I declined a speed or glide test because, it's fun to keep a little mystery in the brand new light weight rigids that are coming out.

I look forward to the FD glider as well.

Discuss "Dave Sharp answers Scott's questions on the ATOS" at the Oz Report forum   link»

George on the ATOS

Fri, Apr 23 1999, 4:00:02 am GMT

David "Dave" Sharp|Felix Rühle|George Ferris|Malcolm Jones|Mart Bosman|Michael "Hollywood" Champlin|Peter Radman

George Ferris came down to Florida to see Felix and fly the ATOS. This is his report:

We all know what a brilliant designer Felix Ruhle is, but we were unaware that he is also an artist. I had looked over many pictures of the Atos and admired its sleek appearance and striking look but when I saw the Atos for the first time with my own eyes I truly stood in awe.

Pictures don't begin to do it justice, it's truly a work of art. I have been going to the Ranch for 3 years now. I noticed that Malcolm Jones never seems all that interested in gliders other than his tandems which he uses to teach hundreds of students but the day the Atos arrived it put even Malcolm into a trance. I noticed him gawking over it like a kid in a candy store. He commented how sexy it was.

Each morning while the Atos was being set up he was unable to pass by without stopping to admire it, taking time away from his busy schedule.

Talking about setup… The set up of the Atos is very similar to the Exxtacy but quicker, mainly because the flaps and the spoilers are never removed from the sail. This saves about 7 minutes and a lot of hassle. The ribs attach to the trailing edge by levers and the finish is impeccable.

Talking about finish, Felix went as far as contouring the spoilers so they sit flat onto the sail and the flaps are set into the sail becoming part of it. It's hard to explain but you will see for yourself. The control frame, uprights and control bar, are a dupe of the Exxtacy frame (this may change to a lighter material in the near future) but with more refined fittings.

The dacron sail material used on the ATOS has a different finish than the dacron used on Exxtacy. Felix states that the sail will last longer and doesn't have as much of a tendency to wrinkle. Felix made several Pegasus sails out of this material that are quite old now but have proven themselves.

After admiring it's art I was very curious to find out what it actually weighed in pounds. I went to Wal-Mart and retrieved a scale and Hollywood and I weighed it. It is truly 73 pounds. Davis and I weighed it again so he could take pictures that you will see or have seen on the Oz Report. Its static balance is almost perfect and the wing lifts effortlessly while running into the wind, with half flaps, before you take four steps.

George at 145 pounds:

George with the ATOS at 218 pounds:

Thanks to Felix, Dave Sharp and Peter Radman I was able to fly the Atos three times. The first flights were in the evening and there was no lift. I could not determine any thing concrete but it seemed that Atos had a much better glide and a somewhat better sink. (Time will tell.)

My third flight was at 11 AM. I towed to 2500 ft where I released and flew around finding light lift. Thermals were just beginning to pop. The Atos, remarkably, tows easier than the Exxtacy and I would not have believed it if I hadn't been on tow myself. The Atos like the Exxtacy fly's straight ahead, hands off, like it's on rails.

I pulled on some speed to feel the pitch pressure which appeared to be more than my Exxtacy ( this could be because of the CG location). The pitch pressure was the same from 20 to 60 mph. Looking at the wing on the ground, and noticing how much shorter the cord was than the Exxtacy, and with the span of 42 ft, I was thinking the Atos most likely would have a tendency to slip in high bank turns.

I entered a thermal and initiated a left turn with a moderate bank and let go of the control frame. The Atos carved a beautiful turn on it's own. I changed directions several times going from 45 to 45° banks. Like the Exxtacy it takes longer than a flex wing to do this maneuver but like the Exxtacy the initiation is immediate. I was still in the thermal and had gained 1000 ft and decided to see what she felt like in high bank turns. I kept increasing the bank angle in each 360 until I achieved 90°. There was no tendency for the Atos to slip at all and she carved the most beautiful turn. I did several 90 deg 360's in both directions and the Atos was solid all the way. My fear of her wanting to slip was gone.

The other thing I noticed is the Atos feedback is so easy to read. It's right there all the time and gives you a real secure feeling. I left the thermal and circled down to 1200FT. I raced back toward the Ranch and entered another thermal. This time during my climb I used different flap settings. The lift was light and like my Exxtacy the Atos appeared to climb better (in light lift) with some flap.

I have found, flying the Exxtacy, as a rule of thumb, that the stronger the conditions get the less flap you use (of course, this could be personal preference). I would guess that the Atos is the same, but that's only a guess, for I never got to fly the Atos in strong conditions. Also, the Atos seems to turn quicker with flap.

Maybe Dave will give us a write-up on his perceptions after the Nationals. Does the Atos fly just like the Exxtacy? Well it's similar but there are some differences that I can't put into words in the short amount of air time that I have on it. If I was to say anything it would be the Atos fly's more like a flex wing , high siding need. Well I'll leave it to Dave's two-week experience to describe the differences.

Do I have any concerns? Yes! It seems that the Atos does not fall out of the sky with full flaps like the Exxtacy. It's only a first impression but I don't think the glide is diminished as much as the glide on the Exxtacy at full flap. It was time for me to land, and Dave was waiting patiently. It was only one hour before start time. I had landed the Atos twice before this flight and the landings were straight forward and easy, similar to the Exxtacy.

It was my last day at Wallaby, I needed to return to work. I was elated that I was given the opportunity to fly the Atos seeing that only one arrived, not two. I left the thermal and circled down checking out the wind sock, which was light north the same direction as when I had taken off 30 minutes earlier. I decided to make a long and conservative approach into the wind. I wasn't aware until I was cruising 10 feet over the ground that the wind had switched 180°'s and I now had a tail wind.

At 10 ft off the ground I noticed that my ground speed was not slowing but increasing. Ten seconds later and with no room to turn for correction I flared hard. My feet hit the ground first and with the momentum the glider had I knew that she was going to beak. My mistake was not letting her do so. Normally I let go of the down tubes and if I'm going to fall forward I let myself do so with out touching the uprights. The result is always the same. No damage to the glider and no damage to me.

This time, I was desperate not to beak this work of art that did not belong to me and held onto the uprights hoping to prevent the obvious. I knew walking out of the field that all the people that didn't know who I was were all familiar with my name now. I ended my stay at Wallaby helping Felix, Dave, and Peter, who had been so gracious to me, fitting the Atos with new uprights. Now there… is a short VA_CA I won't forget. SO-oooooooooooooooo what's your most embarrassing moment!

Discuss "George on the ATOS" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Dave Sharp's ATOS report

Tue, Apr 20 1999, 4:00:04 am GMT

ATOS|David "Dave" Sharp|Exxtacy|George Ferris|Peter Radman|Wallaby Open 1999

Dave Sharp is flying the ATOS in the Wallaby Open. He also works for Altair, the US distributor. He previously was the US factory pilot for the Exxtacy. He both flies the ATOS as a job and represents the ATOS throughout the US.

Here is his report on his experience so far:

So I've been holding off just a bit to tell everyone about this awesome new wing. I wanted to at least get some air time before hand. I can happily report that it should more than meet everyone's expectations.

We managed to get the Atos cleared from customs a day before the meet started. I was down in Miami at 10pm pried open the beefy wood box and found everything in tact with no damage with only one problem NO Sail ?.

I drove back to Quest to crash for the night, (2:30 am)

Saturday morning I met up with Peter Radman we both left for the Ranch right away hoping and praying Felix who arrived that night would have the sail. He did and we assembled the Atos at Quest in a hanger out of the pouring rain.

Felix test flew it, then I got to fly. Next George Ferris who drove 1200 miles just to check it out got to take her for a ride. I've been flying the Atos now for 3 days and have about 10 hours.

First the glider is really 73 pounds, The Carbon Fiber work is very slick. Felix uses a little different carbon fiber fabric on the D-tube the result is lighter and stronger and easier to work on.

The Atos is a foot or so shorter in pack down than similar wings. First you insert a foot long section of 7075 with a carbon fiber rib attached to it then you insert a fiberglass wand that plugs into a delron fitting.

The ribs swing out but stay internal and Felix has designed a very clever and simple pinky size cam that you can tension with the flick of a finger.

The spoilers and flaps attach directly to the sail with Velcro, no spoiler or flap sleeves. At first I did not like the idea of having to peel them on and off BUT you don't have to THEY STAY ON. You just fold over the sail and they lay on top of the glider, VERY NICE.

The sail work is very clean no proto type here !. The aspect ratios is incredible 12:1 and must be the sexiest hang glider out there.

Flying : off the cart it tracks very well with good pitch feed back. The control bar is several inches closer than what I was used to which I like as opposed to way out in front of my helmet. Bar Pressure is a little more than my last glider but I had no problem going 70 mph.Roll is slightly different , a sharp input will give a quicker roll when desired but normal type Exxtacy like handling can be expected.

Stall speed is a mile or two higher, and the glide is a little better with flaps on but still much less than a high performance hang glider. Flare feel is the same but is much lighter when you do the final push out. Glide is about what is claimed, I am consistently seeing a steady walk away from last years rigid wing models. Sink rate is the same but every day I'm getting more dialed into and finding my self on top more often.

In a few week I will be going up to Altair and we will be making an on line manual to show more details. Look for it on the Altair web page.

I have lots of photos of the ATOS , and will be publishing them soon. Even photographic evidence of the weight – 73 pounds.

Discuss "Dave Sharp's ATOS report" at the Oz Report forum   link»

ATOS arrives

Sat, Apr 17 1999, 4:00:01 am GMT

ATOS|David "Dave" Sharp|Felix Rühle|George Ferris|Johann Posch|Peter Radman

At least that is what Felix says. Oh, yes, Felix Ruhle, is also here. He has the sail and the carbon fiber part of it is up at the Groveland Municipal airport (otherwise known as Quest Air). Peter Radman, president of the ATOS US distributor, Altair, Dave Sharp, factory pilot, and Felix, are set to go set up the latest version of the ATOS. Unfortunately for them it is pouring rain. Maybe latter this afternoon.

An hour before sunset, Felix arrived in the air with the ATOS. He was towed from Groveland at 6,000' by the Quest Air tug. Johann Posch was in the air in the ixbo and Felix started buzzing him.

He caused quite a stir when he landed and we got to pick up the glider. It was as light as a regular topless glider. We get a scale tomorrow.

George Ferris went up to Quest in the afternoon and found Felix. George got a flight on the ATOS. His comment was it was the same jump to go from his Exxtacy as it was going from a flex wing to the Exxtacy.

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

Exxtacies Rule »

Tue, Feb 16 1999, 4:00:00 pm GMT

Belinda Boulter|Flight Design Exxtacy|George Ferris|Martin "Marty" Beckenbach

The last week at Wallaby Ranch has been Exxtacy week (and it looks like it will be Exxtacy week this week also). Tom Nejame, Peter Pfifer, John Hamlin, and Marty Beckenbach have come down from New England with their Exxtacies and have gone cross country every day (except this past weekend). They've been getting flights of up to 70 miles.

Belinda and I were in the Keys until late last Friday afternoon, so we missed all the good cross country flying last week. A cold front passed through on Saturday morning, and the north wind (15-20 mph) kicked in for the weekend. Temperature plummeted to 65°F during the day and 45°F at night. I actually had to put on shoes and long pants to go out on Valentines Day(Sun. Feb.14 1999). (This is true, but said in a joking manner.)

It's only the pilots with the Exxtacies that have been going XC. One day last week the cloud streets lined up strong north to south and they spent two and half hours working against a strong north wind to make it 22 miles north to their goal at Quest Air.

The cold and the winds kept everyone (including all the locals) away for the weekend, but they backed off on Presidents day (Mon. Feb.15 1999)during the morning and at about 10:30 AM cues started popping over the Ranch. The winds changed from north east at about 9 mph to east or a little southeast. The thermals were strong enough to completely block the winds for long intervals at launch.

I took the tug up at 12:15 PM followed shortly by Tom, Peter and John (who flies supine). I pinned off at 900 feet as Keri enter lift that seemed to last for at least ten seconds. I'm embarrassed not to pin off early if the tug pilot is in lift for more then a few seconds, and especially if he starts turning.

It turned out that the climb out for me was slow (200 fpm), and Tom took a ride to 2400' with a propeller driven thermal, and got into the better lift higher. We both headed north to try to get around the Green Swamp (which is to the west), assuming that the east component of the wind was strong.

It was hard to figure the winds aloft, and we made slow progress to the north west, passing a few miles west of Groveland and not really being blown over the swamp. All the clouds worked, and all the blue sunk. I got low (2700') just south of Coleman, but drifted into 900 fpm (averaged) to 6000' CB.

Tom and I continued to be able to make cloud base, continually jump the ill formed streets to head north, and not get pushed to the Gulf to the west, and climb strongly (300+ fpm) to cloud base.

Tom headed off to the northeast unseen by me, to later cross Paynes Prairie (a swamp south of Gainesville) at 2400'. The Prairie is currently covered with water so it is quite clear that it is a swamp.

I headed northwest from the Ocala airport passing over Williston and finally landing after 5 hours, 103 miles out northwest of Archer. Tom made his first 100 miler, landing on the north side of Gainesville by I-75. Peter and John landed a bit earlier, but still had great flights.

We all landed at about 5:30 PM and there were still light cues in the sky. Sundown was 6:14 PM. There was lift right at the end of the flight, but it was light. Both Tom and I cut short our flights to land near easy retrieval.

So far, one 105 miler in January - George Ferris, and two over 100 milers in February. So why is it that we wait until July, to head out to some desert site in the west to get the really big air and the really strong winds, to get our 100 mile flights? The logic is beginning to escape me. I guess those flights out west should have been at least 200 miles.

Discuss "Exxtacies Rule" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Wallaby Ranch »

Sun, Jan 3 1999, 6:00:03 pm EST

Christmas|cloud|Exxtacy|food|George Ferris|Kerry Lloyd|Malcolm Jones|Wallaby Ranch

Belinda and I are at Wallaby Ranch. We arrived here on Wednesday (January 20th). Three great days of flying before the rains today. Got a 73 miler past Silver Springs the second day I was here. Yesterday showed strong winds but weak lift under great looks, but not producing cloud streets. Carlos and I only went a bit over 23 miles.

Apparently flying has been great in Florida, at least since last October, except for a few weeks around Christmas (wouldn't you know it). George Ferris was getting long flights here on his Exxtacy, just before we got here.

The Ranch now has a chef, Jerome, and he is great. Cooks two to three meals a day, and frankly it is a 100% improvement on the Wallaby Ranch as a place to hang out, not that it wasn't already great. Anything to avoid going out for breakfast, and you get to meet and sit down with everyone here. Great food.

Lots of work taking place here, with many people providing the labor. This has been a big Brazilian contingent, and that has added to the atmosphere. Even Rhett's place looks improved. Kerry Lloyd has taken over the accounting, and Quicken Books has been set up to easily track the numerous services provided by the ranch personnel.

See more below for a few tidbits on our travels to Wallaby.

Saturday there was a special 5th birthday party at the Ranch for Malcolm Jones' daughter.

Lots of five year olds, farm animals, ponies, a huge pile of sand, Jerome, the chef and his crew all dressed up, the pole barn all decked out with paper cactuses, cowboy hats for all the kids along with scarfs.

Oh yes, and the tree house out of Dr. Suess through Malcolm. A southern father dotes on his daughter.

Discuss "Wallaby Ranch" at the Oz Report forum   link»