Oz Report
topic: George Ferris (87 articles)
At the lake or in the lake?
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/
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3 topics in this article: Facebook, George Ferris, video
Wellfleet
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
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2 topics in this article: George Ferris, PG
Corn Hill
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.
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3 topics in this article: George Ferris, record, Wright Brothers
Sky Sports HGMA testing crew
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.
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1 topic in this article: George Ferris
Birds gone Wild
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
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3 topics in this article: George Ferris, video, wildlife
Martin wings
Martin wings
George Ferris and his foam glider
George Ferris|video
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
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2 topics in this article: George Ferris, video
Cape Cod Halloween Fly In
Cape Cod Halloween Fly In
The web site
(Cape+Cod+near+Corn+Hill+Road)
George Ferris|video
George Ferris <<glferris>> writes:
http://www.seascapemotorinn.com and select Press (as in news press and articles).
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2 topics in this article: George Ferris, video
Cape Cod Halloween Fly In
Cape Cod Halloween Fly In
Your invitation
(Cape+Cod+near+Corn+Hill+Road)
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.
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1 topic in this article: George Ferris
George Ferris, where are you? »
George Ferris, where are you?
Is this where?
George Ferris
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1 topic in this article: George Ferris
George Ferris⁣ gets his record »
Record
The new out and return record
(Walt's Point / Horseshoe Meadows, CA, USA)
George Ferris|record
https://OzReport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8585&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=40
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2 topics in this article: George Ferris, record
More Thanks
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.
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40 topics in this article: 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
Cheap Cars in Oz
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).
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4 topics in this article: Billy Vaughn, George Ferris, Martyn Yeomans, Vic Hare
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.
3 topics in this article: George Ferris, Johann Posch, USHGA
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.
2 topics in this article: George Ferris, Rick Mullins
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
13 topics in this article: Alessandro "Alex" Ploner, Christian Ciech, Florida, George Ferris, Gordon Rigg, Jim Lee, Mike Degtoff, record, Rhett Radford, Rich Burton, sailplane, US Open, Worlds
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.
3 topics in this article: Dave Brandt, George Ferris, Worlds
US Open – Campbell Bowen and Terry Presley in first »
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
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»
14 topics in this article: 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
George Ferris⁣’s flight on day two »
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.
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1 topic in this article: George Ferris
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
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
7 topics in this article: George Ferris, Glen Volk, Jim Lamb, Jim Lee, photo, Timothy Ettridge, US Open
WRE – Flytec vario winner »
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!
20 topics in this article: 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
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.
10 topics in this article: Alessandro "Alex" Ploner, Brian Porter, dust devil, Florida, George Ferris, Larry Jorgensen, Manfred Ruhmer, Peter Gray, weather, Worlds
WRE – oh so very very patient »
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:
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8 topics in this article: Alessandro "Alex" Ploner, Alex Ploner, Doug Prather, Felix Ruehle, George Ferris, Jamie Shelden, Mosquito, World Record Encampment 2002
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.
10 topics in this article: Brian Porter, CIVL, George Ferris, Heiner Biesel, Jim Yocom, Kari Castle, Ron Gleason, USHGA, Vince Endter, Worlds
WRE – Will Gadd sets new paraglider world record »
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.
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13 topics in this article: 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
WRE – Thursday - New World Records »
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»
14 topics in this article: 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
WRE – Wednesday »
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»
18 topics in this article: 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
WRE – 1st day »
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.
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8 topics in this article: George Ferris, Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann, Mike Barber, Pete Lehmann, PG, sailplane, weather, Will Gadd
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.
5 topics in this article: Brett Hazlett, Curt Warren, Florida, George Ferris, Mike Barber
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.
2 topics in this article: George Ferris, John Vernon
Wallaby Open – rain, rain, rain
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
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15 topics in this article: 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
Campbell Bowen goes to Georgia
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.
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3 topics in this article: André Wolfe, Campbell Bowen, George Ferris
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.
2 topics in this article: George Ferris, Mike Barber
Keeping Rigid Wings Cool & Strong
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 Temperature | 82°F |
Inside Atos Wing | 93°F |
Inside Atos Wing W/energy Shield | 87°F |
Temperature Differential | 5°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» »
8 topics in this article: carbon fiber, Davis Straub, Florida, George Ferris, Ian Duncan, Jaime Ruiz, record, Wallaby Ranch
How about single surface contest?
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»
5 topics in this article: George Ferris, Michael "Hollywood" Champlin, Mike Barber, Pete Lehman, Rob Kells
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.
7 topics in this article: Florida, George Ferris, Quest Air, sailplane, Steve Kroop, Wallaby Ranch, weather
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.
2 topics in this article: George Ferris, Matt Kollman
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.
5 topics in this article: Carbon Dragon, Florida, Gary Osoba, George Ferris, Wallaby Ranch
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.
3 topics in this article: George Ferris, sailplane, Worlds
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.
3 topics in this article: Dragonfly, George Ferris, Malcolm Jones
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.
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