Wills Wing
Flytec

Oz Report

topic: Ghostbuster

187 articles, page:  1 

Cloudsuck, chapter 9 »

Mon, Jan 30 2012, 3:48:07 pm GMT

I serialize Cloudsuck for the winter season

Cloudsuck|Ghostbuster|Kari Castle|Mark "Gibbo" Gibson|Mark Gibson|Mark Poustinchian|Michael "Hollywood" Champlin|Mike Barber|Quest Air|record|weather

Many pilots wonder what it really takes to set a world record. Some wonder what it's like to fly at a place like Zapata or other world class sites. Cloudsuck answers these and other questions while telling the story of how I set the current Distance World Record for Rigid Wings. Over this winter, I am pleased to make the book available as a gift to my readers in serialized form. Each Monday, another chapter will be available for you to enjoy here on the Oz Report. The best read is the one in it's entirety, and both the soft cover book and an ebook are available to purchase here: https://OzReport.com/cloudsuck.php. You can find the Kindle version on Amazon.

If you enjoy the serialized installments, you may wish to skip the text below and jump directly to this week's chapter, including any graphics or pictures here: https://OzReport.com/docs/Cloudsuck9.pdf

I hope you enjoy the book and this week's chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Finally — Over 200 Miles in the Eastern U.S.

In the spring of 2000, only a few months after my first flight beyond two hundred miles in Australia, Mark Poustinchian (usually just called Mark P.) and Mark ‘Gibbo’ Gibson started making long distance attempts from Quest Air Soaring Center, twenty air miles north of Wallaby Ranch. In fact, with some financial encouragement from their glider manufacturer, five pilots at Quest had taken up the challenge of flying far in Florida.

I had known Gibbo since my first flying days back in Washington State, and had flown with him in the 1989 Manufacturer’s League Meet at Pine Mountain. He had often been a member of the national team, and had placed third in the Worlds when they were held in the Owens Valley in 1993. A big, heavy guy, he was known for his wild style and willingness to take the kinds of chances that other pilots shunned. For years he had lived in the Owens Valley, and he willingly flew in some of the biggest air conditions found in the western U.S. And it is in the west that the biggest and baddest conditions in the world can be found.

Mark P., a native of Iran who had previously been a nuclear plant operator in Arkansas, had just moved to Quest with his wife in their recreational vehicle with the express desire to set records. He had been a local hero back home at Mt. Nebo but didn’t have any competition experience. His desire was to focus on the lone long distance flights.

The guys up at Quest were all flying Ghostbusters — rigid wing gliders like mine, but from a competing German manufacturer to my ATOS. They had the advantage of being a group, sometimes flying as a team and encouraging each other to get going early when it was weak and difficult to stay up. And they were twenty miles closer to the Georgia border, the big goal line for every Florida hang glider pilot.

During a normal year they would have had to contend with a lot of little lakes and marshes at the beginning of a flight north from Quest. Often I’d found a lot of sink over Quest. But in this drought year, the dried-up wetlands had proven to be great thermal producers, giving good early conditions for the start to the Quest pilots.

Down the road at Wallaby, with Mikey busy teaching and Michael gone, I was feeling a little isolated. Just as much as the guys up north, I wanted to get to Georgia and set the east coast record. I knew that I had the experience, the skills, and the hang glider that could get me there. I was better at understanding and predicting the weather. I would just have to do it on my own.

On March 9th Gibbo followed a street of clouds starting southwest of Gainesville, and found himself in a convergence line that headed straight for the Georgia “finger,” a jog in the state line formed by St. Mary’s River where it loops fifteen miles to the south. The clouds were drying up behind Gibbo, but were forming in front of him just as fast. He realized that he was actually managing to stay in front of the trailing edge of the convergence. He just had to keep going fast enough to stay in the are where the convergence was still happening and not get left behind.

A convergence line is an area where winds from two different directions meet and are forced together upward. In regions with moist air, areas of convergence are usually marked by a line or lines of cumulus clouds. For example in Florida, with on-shore flows from both the east and west coasts, a convergence zone will often form along a generally north/south line, right up the middle of the state.

Mark P. had gotten an earlier start than Gibbo, but had taken a slightly different line to the west. His route didn’t take him toward the Georgia finger but up Interstate 75 to the north-northwest, and in this direction the Georgia border was another twenty miles further north. At the end of the day, he hadn’t quite made it to the border, and had to land at 135 miles out. Gibbo had flown just five miles further, but he had crossed the border into the finger. That small difference had made Mark Gibson the first hang glider pilot to fly into Georgia from central Florida, and had earned him the $1000 prize.

The very next day Mark P., never to be outdone, tried again. This time he made it to Georgia — the long way, up Interstate 75. And a month later on April 11th he flew 192 miles, not only surpassing Michael Champlin’s state record but setting a new East Coast hang gliding record at the same time. (Because Mark P. flew a rigid wing hang glider Michael’s flex wing record stood for a few years more.).

By April there was a lot more action at Wallaby Ranch, in preparation for the Wallaby Open. Mike Barber had given up his instruction duties to train for the meet, and Kari Castle had arrived from California. On the day of Mark P.’s record flight, Kari set both the Florida state record for women and the women's East Coast record at 115 miles.

I had been in the air early myself on that day, out in front of all the other pilots, feeling pretty good about my prospects. But after only 35 miles I was forced to land when the new prototype glider I was flying started to fall apart in the air. The Velcro that attached the sail to the carbon fiber leading edge had come undone on my left wing, and the sail had begun to roll up. In spite of a wicked turn, I was still able to fly and land the glider without having to throw my chute. But as I stood on the ground looking at the sky, I knew the others were taking advantage of the best day of the season so far.

The Florida competitions had come and gone, and I was back to flying on my own, or with Mike. On May 8th I had my longest flight in Florida so far, 179 miles up Interstate 75 — and landed just short of the Georgia border. The winds and the convergence had kept drawing me to the northwest, even though the Georgia border would have been a lot closer if I had just gone straight north from Wallaby.

Five days later I woke up sick and lacking in sleep. But the forecast was irresistible: convergence up the middle of the state right toward the finger, with light southerly winds. I felt terrible, but decided to give it a try.

It was already after noon when I launched, and when I did get into the air I was not convinced that the day was any good at all. There weren't any cumulus clouds at first, even that late, but soon they started forming near me. This lifted my spirits and I decided to head north. The lift had turned out to be quite good and I began to enjoy the flight.

Ninety miles into the flight, just southeast of Orange Lake and only a few miles northeast of Gainesville, I saw a big “blue hole” downwind of me — a cloudless area on the east side of the lake. I had flown up by Orange Lake quite a few times, but had always stayed five or ten miles east of Orange and Lochloosa Lakes, usually because I was fighting a west wind. But to take my usual course now would put me in big sink, and almost certainly on the ground.

Continue reading here: https://OzReport.com/docs/Cloudsuck9.pdf

Discuss "Cloudsuck, chapter 9" at the Oz Report forum   link»

More on Velcro

Wed, May 19 2004, 2:00:03 pm EDT

Check and replace your Velcro.

Daleo Enterprises|Ghostbuster|Tony Moore

Tony Moore «tony_moore» writes:

I understand that the spoileron broke shortly after take off. I can only assume that the Velcro failed first, it's difficult to see what else could have happened. I suppose it is possible that the pilot forgot to attach it, however as I said before it was too easy to remove the other one when I de-rigged the glider. Maybe the Velcro needs a closer examination.

It was a hill launch at Westbury in the SW of UK. ( 300' top to bottom) The broken part detached completely and took with it the Velcro from the piece that was left on the glider. You can see this from the photo. Consequently the remaining part was held on only by the pin. The remaining part has a fracture which allowed it to bend. (also shown on the photo). The pilot realised what had happened and managed to fly away from the hill and make an emergency landing at the bottom, nearly running out of field though. Unfortunately the grass was very long and caught the base bar causing the glider to nose in hard. I guess the stress of the situation, made worse by the barbed wire fence that he was heading towards added to the likelihood of a bad landing.

Stephen Daleo, Daleo Enterprises, 925-997-3359, «steve» writes:

I saw the Oz Report article concerning a GhostBuster spoileron that detached while in flight. Flight Design noted early in the production of the GhostBuster that the potential existed for this type of occurrence. At that time an advisory was sent out to alert the pilots of the potential issue. Flight Design also sent out, at no charge, stainless steel safety clips that secure the ends of the spoilerons to the Velcro hinges on the sail. All pilots should have received these safety clips and should be using them.

The Velcro that attaches the spoileron to the sail does wear with use and should be replaced if it is no longer firmly attaching the spoileron. As was pointed out, with a number of these gliders on the used market, the new owners may not be aware of the potential for this happening.

If any Exxtacy/GhostBuster/Axxess pilot needs the spoileron safeties, send me a note and we'll get those out to you immediately.

Discuss Velcro at the Oz Report forum

Bad Velcro

Tue, May 18 2004, 2:00:02 pm EDT

Ghostbuster spoilerons.

Ghostbuster|Tony Moore

Tony Moore «tony_moore» writes:

I understand this has happened before, but it should be worth another mention as Ghostbusters are now on the second hand market.

This is a picture of what can happen if your Velcro is worn out on your Ghostbuster control surfaces. Fortunately, the pilot (very low airtime) managed to walk away with cuts and bruises after what must have been a rather scary flight.

I compared the Velcro to that on my Ghostbuster and there is a marked difference. I was called to de-rig his glider while he went to hospital for a check up and I was amazed how easy the other spoileron came off compared to mine. Also I have a set of 4 steel clips which keep the ends of the spoilerons attached to the sail. These were not fitted to my friend's glider.

Discuss Velcro at the Oz Report forum

ATOS V

Mon, May 3 2004, 2:00:01 am EDT

Neville likes his new toy.

Ghostbuster|Justin Needham|Neville Almond

Neville Almond «N_Almond» writes to the rigid wing list comparing his new ATOS-V to his previous Ghostbuster:

The Atos V is a significant stride forward. My previous glider was a Ghostbuster (GB), which was starting to appear very close in the performance stakes to the current state-of-art flexis; not a good position for all the extra rigging/transport/cost hassle.   

Now, with the V, the glider is tiny in comparison, and a dream the way it fits into two close fitting bags. Whilst being a flexi pilot since 1979, and still quite fit, I picked up a flexi last week and thought 'this is going to wreck my back for sure' (I want to fly into my 60's & 70's). All the flying surfaces are attached, so rigging (compared to a GB) is very much faster.

Handling? - whatever you do, get the version with no front wires - having tight side wires brings back that flexi-style 'connectivity (instead of that slop like on many rigids). I can now perform low-level tricks, fly close to the hill, and maneuver like a crisp flexi in complete comfort.   

Performance - sink rate: Like your GB, the sink rate at 15 deg flaps is stunning, and was certainly a differentiator that helped me complete a 66 mile triangle last weekend in the UK (on a fair, but average day). There were 3 UK league pilots flying triangles that day (including the current UK national champion, Justin Needham) - no one got further than 30 miles. Indeed, Justin is normally very careful with his words, but has acknowledged how different the V actually is.

Performance - glide: The glide is outstanding, and the glider is trimable so you just place the bar where you want for 30, 40 or 50 mph, with no bar pressure. It has become a party trick to fly up to top flex wings, pull in, and shift away forwards - its like having received the best toy ever in your Christmas sack. No doubt the glide at VERY high speeds isn't too dissimilar to flexis, but then again, how often to you fly at over 70mph?

You really must try a V, and most importantly, the version without the front wires. I estimate that within 3 minutes of flying it you will have decided !

Discuss the V at the Oz Report forum

Icaro 2000⁣ Relax »

Mon, Mar 29 2004, 3:00:03 pm EST

She couldn't have had more fun.

the Relax

Ghostbuster|Icaro 2000|Quest Air

Anne-Odile «Anne-Odile.Thomas» writes to Quest Air:

I finally got my first mountain flight on the Relax, so I thought I would report on it. I had promised myself I would fly it at the training hill once, before taking it to the mountains, just to be sure it doesn’t fall out of the sky. Unfortunately, it took me a while to get that done, which was torture, as I really wanted to fly it in the mountains ASAP. I finally had a test flight done, and then took the Relax for its maiden mountain flight yesterday.

I’m glad to report that it was just as much fun as what I remembered from Florida, except even better, as I had much better thermalling conditions this time. I flew it for one hour in an inland site where, in the spring and fall, we get a convergence that moves up the valley. You try and catch the convergence and follow it either along the mountain range, or down the valley itself. It’s a really beautiful site, and quite challenging, as it constantly changes and it’s hard to follow the convergence. It makes for really rewarding flights though.

This said, I had an awesome flight. The Relax is just so much fun to fly. I can slow it way down so that I could maximize the smaller cores that we had on Sunday. Thermals were quite tight, often with multiple cores, but I was able to turn the glider really tight and push out a good amount, so I climbed awesome with it. I was on top of topless gliders, and even a Ghostbuster for a good while. It was so much fun.

I also mentioned to the other pilots that I thought these were the smoothest conditions I had flown in at that site ever. It felt like butter. However, they told me it wasn’t the case for them, they found it just as rowdy as usual (this place usually gets quite trashy, especially around the convergence). I then realized that it was my glider that made it so nice.

As for the glide, I was happily surprised to see how good it was. At this site, the LZ is quite far from launch, and you only have so many options to initially get up before you have to head out. On a single surface, it can be tough. But on the Relax, it felt that I got almost as good a glide as my Saturn usually gets there. I was really surprised by that. It was awesome.

Landing was also really easy. I had a no-stepper in a light breeze in the valley. This glider has a good amount of ground effect though, for a single surface. It goes on for quite a while, before you need to flare. It kind of surprised me on my test flight on the training hill. I went much further than I thought. The flare window is quite obvious though.

Anyway, I’m in love with this glider. It’s so much fun. Plus it’s beautiful. Other pilots were drooling over it. Everyone is quite curious about it, as there isn’t any other Relax in the area. I’m the first one with one. Hopefully, you’ll get more business from it, and sell more of them. I’ll be more than happy to be used as a reference if you want some prospective customers to hear from someone who flies a Relax. I’ve got nothing but good things to say about it.

Thanks again for getting me this glider. (Now, what I need to find is an intermediate-advanced glider that handles just as nice, but with a much improved glide over my Saturn. Then I’ll have a full quiver!!!).

Discuss "Icaro 2000⁣ Relax" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

2003 US Nationals – much less courage and a little less skill »

Mon, Jul 28 2003, 9:00:01 pm GMT

Bubba Goodman|dust devil|Gary Osoba|Ghostbuster|Jim Lee|Kraig Coomber|Paris Williams|Robin Hamilton|US Nationals|US Nationals 2003

Bruce Barmakian|Bubba Goodman|dust devil|Gary Osoba|Ghostbuster|Jim Lee|Kraig Coomber|Paris Williams|Robin Hamilton|US Nationals|US Nationals 2003

Bruce Barmakian|Bubba Goodman|dust devil|Gary Osoba|Ghostbuster|Jim Lee|Kraig Coomber|Paris Williams|Robin Hamilton|Russell Brown|US Nationals|US Nationals 2003

Bruce Barmakian|Bubba Goodman|dust devil|Gary Osoba|Ghostbuster|Jim Lee|Kraig Coomber|Paris Williams|Robin Hamilton|Russell Brown|US Nationals|US Nationals 2003

http://www.flytec.com/usnats03/scores.html

The scores for today aren’t up yet as we did a 100-mile task straight downwind and we wouldn’t get back in time for the scorekeeper. Tim Meaney will be scoring from 9 AM to 10 AM tomorrow at the headquarters at the airport.

Gary Osoba writes to tell us that the lift should be a lot more coherent today and low and behold he is right on the money. It is so nice to have thermals that actually stay together and don’t toss you around like a rag doll well at least most of them are friendlier than yesterday.

Gary’s also calling for over an 11,000’ cloud base, but that must be for way late in the day, and many of us are at goal by 6 PM. He and all the wind forecasts (except the FSL T-skew) are calling for lighter winds. But the T-skew calls for strong (11 to 16 knots at 4 PM – stronger like 20 knots earlier) southwest going to south east as you rise up. Given that it looks like the winds get lighter over the next three days, the task committee decides to go for a hundred miler downwind to Levelland to the north northwest, assuming south southeast up high. This also keeps us away from the Lubbock airspace.

The launch window is going to open at 1 PM again, an hour and a half before the first of three start windows. Now it’s awfully easy to get stuck on the ground as 3 PM, the last start window, approaches, and we’re hoping that pilots begin to realize this and make the choice to launch early. Of course, most of them want someone else to launch early, so that they can relax on the ground and not have to work to stay up over the airport for an hour and a half or two hours.

Still, we make sure that some folks get going early by making sure that those pilots staging in the hangar and not on the runway, will have to get in the back of the launch line. This gets them out when the launch line is short and the main body of pilots starting launching fifteen minutes earlier today. I’ll just bet that the group psychosis will push pilots into launching another fifteen minutes earlier tomorrow, as there were still folks on the ground at 3 PM, including Kraig Coomber.

There are some high clouds over the airport in the morning coming off the over development and rain to the south, but they quickly disappear as a cloud street sets up just east of the airport at around noon. Soon there are cu’s everywhere.

I’m in the launch line at 1:30 and with all the excitement I’ve got ten guys in front of me. I wish I had twenty, but so it goes. Kurt Graham is my designated tug pilot, and it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a tug climb so slowly. We’ve got to be in sink because we’re lucky to get 300 fpm. I pin off at 1,600’ AGL when we hit some lift because I feel so sorry for Kurt.

Some of the earlier launchers are stinkin’ high, but I’ll waddle around at 2,500’ AGL until finally something reasonable comes along to take a bunch of us to 8,700’ MSL. The lift is quite a bit more reasonable than yesterday so it’s actually pleasant to fly in.

A number of top pilots get to over 8,500’ at 2:30 not too far from the start cylinder circumference, and I’m hoping for a good gaggle of fast guys to leave then, but no, no one wants to go. I think the rigids that were high early leave then.

Jerz heads off on a mission to the west and we follow, until I turn to the left and back toward the airport to get under a nice cloud. The rest of the pilots come join me and we climb up over 10,000’ to cloud base and get ready to take the last start time at 3 PM. We wonder what happened to Jerz.

It’s basically a race start with a few unseen gliders out in front. The Swifts are with us also and they head out in front as they race each other. So nice to have them having to race against themselves. Keeps them from pimping too much off the rest of us.

The cu’s are well spaced and there is plenty of lift. It will average a little over 400 fpm throughout the task. We’ll get bits and pieces of 600 fpm at times.

We navigate around the blue areas by heading east of the course line in a more northerly direction. The Swifts are way out in front. Bruce Barmakian is also quite a bit out in front in his ATOS. Paris Williams and I are pulling the gaggle after the first few thermals. I’m always willing to go with Paris as he’s always racing and only stopping for the good thermals.

We stay above 7,000’ and repeatedly climb to cloud base at over 10,000’. We’re averaging about 40 mph over the ground with a tail wind of about 15 mph. Thirty six miles out from goal Paris and I catch Russell Brown on a Ghostbuster who started earlier. Paris is on my right and Russell to the left. We’re down to 6,500’. Russell finds some lift and I join him as Paris continues on thinking that the lift Russell has isn’t that great.

Well it will average 500 fpm and get Russell and me to 10,600’, the highest I get all day. I keep watching Paris get lower and lower (relative to us) in front as he keeps checking out the lift he finds but leaves it because it’s only 200 fpm. Paris looks back and curses his luck.

This thermal gets us to 23 miles out where we overtake Bruce Barmakian who’s working some weak stuff off to our west. I find 400 fpm and Russell and Bruce join me as we again climb to over 10,000’ and it looks like we might have a final glide. Paris is climbing behind us and watching us as we climb up.

We go on glide with Bruce 100’ over my head and Russell just behind me. Paris gets to see the action from behind as he goes on glide. Out in front of us, unseen by us, Brian and Mark get low and have to work back up, Junko stays high and makes it into goal first to win the day in the Swift class.

The three of us take a sucky line and fall out of the sky. After a period of 800 fpm down, I find some zero sink and stop 10 miles from the goal. Bruce keeps going and it looks like he continues to fall out of the sky. Russell joins me and we go on a search for lift. Paris sees all this taking place before him, moves to the right a quarter mile and finds a much better line. He keeps going toward goal.

Bruce continues to fall until he’s preying over a field with some weak lift. He will work it up enough to drift the rest of the way to goal. Russell and I keep falling but more slowly until Russell spots a small dust devil and we race over to the general area to find 400 fpm after a bit of a search. This gets us back to 7,500’ MSL (4,000’ AGL) and plenty to make it into goal, especially since we find light sink the rest of the way to goal.

The Swifts are there when we get to the Levelland airport. Three rigids also as they left early. Paris is the first flex wing in, and wins the day. Bruce probably has the fastest rigid wing time. I’m right behind him.

Despite being on the ground at 3 PM, Kraig Coomber has a reasonably fast run and gets in fairly early in spite of never getting very high. Robin Hamilton comes in soon after Paris. Jim Lee, Jerz, Bo, Terry Presley, Bubba Goodman, and a bunch of others flex wing and rigid wing pilots make goal. The fastest time was likely around 2 hours and thirty minutes.

 

The 100 mile down wind task.

Discuss the Nats at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "2003 US Nationals – much less courage and a little less skill" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

2003 US Nationals – a test of courage and skill »

Sun, Jul 27 2003, 5:00:01 pm EDT

Florida|Ghostbuster|Jim Lee|Ron Gleason|US Nationals|US Nationals 2003|Wills Wing

Florida|Ghostbuster|Jim Lee|Phill Bloom|Ron Gleason|US Nationals|US Nationals 2003|Wills Wing

Chris Zimmerman|Florida|Ghostbuster|Jim Lee|Phill Bloom|Ron Gleason|US Nationals|US Nationals 2003|Wills Wing

Aeros Combat|Chris Zimmerman|Florida|Ghostbuster|Jim Lee|Phill Bloom|Ron Gleason|US Nationals|US Nationals 2003|Wills Wing

Aeros Combat|Bruce Barmakian|Chris Zimmerman|Florida|Ghostbuster|Jim Lee|Phill Bloom|Ron Gleason|US Nationals|US Nationals 2003|Wills Wing

Aeros Combat|Bruce Barmakian|Chris Zimmerman|Florida|Ghostbuster|Jim Lee|Phill Bloom|Robin Hamilton|Ron Gleason|US Nationals|US Nationals 2003|Wills Wing

Aeros Combat|Bruce Barmakian|Campbell Bowen|Chris Zimmerman|Florida|Ghostbuster|Jim Lee|Phill Bloom|Robin Hamilton|Ron Gleason|US Nationals|US Nationals 2003|Wills Wing

Aeros Combat|Bruce Barmakian|Campbell Bowen|Chris Zimmerman|Florida|Ghostbuster|Jim Lee|Mark Bolt|Phill Bloom|Robin Hamilton|Ron Gleason|US Nationals|US Nationals 2003|Wills Wing

Aeros Combat|Bruce Barmakian|Campbell Bowen|Chris Zimmerman|Florida|Ghostbuster|Jim Lee|Mark Bolt|Paris Williams|Phill Bloom|Robin Hamilton|Ron Gleason|US Nationals|US Nationals 2003|Wills Wing

http://www.flytec.com/usnats03/scores.html

We start off with a bang. The winds are predicted (by some) to lighten up a little. Dr Jack calls for winds of 5 to 10 knots. FSL shows me 10-12 knots. Gary calls 15 mph. And 15 mph it is.

The FSL T-skew also says the upper winds will be clocking from south on the ground to 140 degrees up above. Gary says no to that, and the winds actually don’t clock quite as much as called for by the model. It’s maybe 160 instead of 140 degrees.

Given the forecast for lighter winds than on the previous two days, we call a shorter triangle. I’ve actually surveyed all the pilots for the length of tasks, and other parameters and on average they want two two hour tasks, three three hour tasks, and two four hour tasks. With the uncertainly in the speed of the winds, the triangle is shorter assuming that it will take quite a bit longer to get back on the last leg.

The first leg is 17.5 miles downwind and we figure the competitors will do it in less than half an hour. My time (the only one I have) is 27 minutes. The next leg is 13.5 miles, and again we figure less than half an hour for this cross wind leg. My time is twenty two minutes.

The last leg is 24.5 miles into what we think is a tem mph head wind, and turns out to be a 15 mph head. We allocate an hour and a half for that. I land three miles short and take an hour and 21 minutes. Looks like we had a pretty good idea of what it would take to do the task. The winners will do the task in just under two hours.

The launch window opens at 1 PM for a 2:30 PM start window, but only two pilots launch before 1:45 PM. That’s going to leave a lot of pilots on the ground cranky as they didn’t get ready in time to get up and out of the airport.

 

The first day triangle task.

I launch just in front of Jim Lee at 1:54 PM and we climb out to 9,600’ MSL at cloud base. The cu’s started around noon, and the sky is full of them to the north (where are task is) and over the airport. We’ll spend the next hour bobbing up and down between 8,500’ and 10,000’ (cloud base) waiting for the last start clock at 3 PM. Might as well turn this into a race.

The lift is not sweet. It’s there, it’s reasonable strong (500 fpm average with bits of 800 fpm), and its got lots of turbulence and edgy edges. This is not Zapata, Wisconsin, or Florida. I’m holding on tight. Campbell Bowen will later say the air was fine, except the one time where he got rolled over. That’s the hard way to go over.

There are a bunch of us at the 5 mile circumference at 3 PM for the race start. We’re high, 9,800’ so it a good start. Paris, Jim Lee, Ron Gleason are a few of the folks nearby.

We use the clouds as a Swift heads off into the blue directly toward the turnpoint. We head a bit north under the clouds waiting to jump over to the east later after the blue hole. This strategy works and becomes the designated strategy for the day. Stay with the clouds.

We’re spread out and just before the first turnpoint Ron Gleason hits the lift on my left. Jim and I join him and Paris heads on with a bunch of other to our right getting lower and lower. That thermal gets me the highest I’ll get all day at 10,500’ and we get the turnpoint quickly and head for the clouds a little south of the course line toward the turnpoint to the west. This is a cross wind task so it’s a good idea to get a bit on the upwind side so you can thermal back toward the course line. Paris and his friends do find good lift under the cloud at the tuernpoint.

We are staying high hitting lift and the clouds pretty frequently. We all know that the hard leg is coming.

 

Notice that we stay high on the first two legs. The top horizontal line is 10,000’ MSL. The other horizontal lines are 1,000’ increments.

We don’t come in high into the second turnpoint as the clouds aren’t there for us. This gets us lower, 3,500’ AGL as we power upwind to find the next thermal. Given that we have to punch upwind to find thermal on this leg, we’ll get lower than on the first two legs and have to climb longer in the thermal to get back up near cloud base. There are plenty of clouds.

We fly to the left of course line to get under what looks like a broken cloud street. Little puffs here and there, but it slows down the sink until Paris and I hit a boomer and get back up high. That’s the ticket, check out the little broken up things that might be streets in the strong wind and go up them.

Fifteen miles out from goal I’m climbing at 500 fpm in the thermal one quarter of a mile behind Campbell and Paris. It’s looking good as I get to almost 10,000’. The clouds are lining up and with a little shift here and there it looks like an autobahn back to the goal even with the 15 mph headwinds.

I don’t see it but this is the thermal where Campbell does the barrel roll. He’s about even with Paris, then the next thing Paris knows, he sees Campbell 300’ below him heading toward him to get in the part of the thermal that Paris is in. He apparently went completely upside down.

Eight miles out after a seven mile glide I’m back down to 3,000’ AGL and I can’t see Campbell or Paris. I’m climbing at 500 fpm as I watch a Swift land below me. That last glide averaged 7:1, but I saw a lot of 6 and 5 to 1 during it. I’m thinking I’d better get within 6 to 1 of the airport before I go for it.

Paris and Campbell are in a street to my right apparently. They can’t hold the bar in hard enough because of the turbulence, but the lift is so strong that they want to go as fast as they can.

I can see four or five rigids a few miles back thermaling up at my level and a couple higher. I’m getting antsy to beat them into goal (this is always a mistake, btw). I pull out at with a glide ratio required of 8 to 1 to make it to goal while still climbing at 400 fpm. Big mistake.

Jim Yokum and Ron Gleason are back there. Ron will climb out to 9,500’ at fourteen miles out and not be able to get the glider down, crossing the goal line at 8,500’. Jim Yokum 1/8th of a mile to his left will start at the same altitude and come in with 400’ AGL (3,000’ MSL).

Passing my 8 mile to goal mark (after drifting back 1.5 miles) I find 500 fpm, slow down, but don’t take it up. Next big mistake. I’ve still got an 8 to 1 glide to goal required. I’m under the clouds. Looks like I’m on a good line, but I hit a bunch of 700 to 900 fpm down, the worst sink of the flight and land 3 miles short. Campbell and Paris make it in a few minutes before I land. All the rigid guys behind me make it in also as they take their time and get high.

Still, a great day. My biggest joy was surviving through the extremely turbulent parts of the flight with my good humor intact. I never left the thermal because I thought it was too rough, which feels like a pretty nice victory for me. The last thermal I was in was the nicest of the day. I guess I figured it was too nice.

Flex wings:

Place

Name

Glider

Start

Finish

Time

Total

1

WILLIAMS Paris

Aeros Combat 3

15:00:00

16:59:40

1:59:40

894

2

KOOMBER Krage

Moyes Litespeed

14:45:00

16:51:21

2:06:21

867

3

SAUER Rich

Icaro MRX

14:45:00

16:58:03

2:13:03

795

4

HAGEWOOD Robert

Aeros Combat 2

14:30:00

16:53:38

2:23:38

774

5

HAMILTON Robin

Moyes Litespeed 4

15:00:00

17:12:16

2:12:16

769

6

WARREN Curt

Moyes Litespeed 4

15:00:00

17:14:07

2:14:07

753

7

BOLT Mark

Aeros Stealth III

14:30:00

16:56:56

2:26:56

747

8

BLOOM Phill

Wills Wing Talon

15:00:00

17:16:29

2:16:29

735

9

LEE Jim

Wills Wing Talon

15:00:00

17:19:03

2:19:03

717

10

ZIMMERMAN Chris

Wills Wing Talon 150

15:00:00

17:21:23

2:21:23

702

Rigid wings:

Place

Name

Glider

Start

Finish

Total

1

BARMAKIAN Bruce

AIR Atos C

15:00:00

16:56:07

913

2

BOWEN Campbell

Flight Design Access

15:00:00

17:03:31

795

3

BROWN Russ

Ghostbuster

14:30:00

16:58:02

693

4

GLEASON Ron

AIR Atos C

15:00:00

17:17:17

692

5

YOCOM James

AIR Atos C

15:00:00

17:17:36

682

Discuss the Nats at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Ghostbuster / Wills Wing aero wheels

Mon, Jun 16 2003, 2:03:04 pm EDT

Ghostbuster|landing|Scott Rutledge|wheels|Wills Wing

Scott Rutledge <srutledge@oceanconnect.com> writes:

I had a straight airfoil bar that I didn't really like flying, as my hands weren't comfortable, so I purchased the WW aluminum airfoil speedbar. My wrists are now much more comfortable, and in a more natural flying position.

I was scraping up my new base bar during setup, and that bugged me. I considered making some sort of skids at the corners, but when I saw these wheels I just couldn't resist. They are, beyond a doubt, the best designed, most heavy duty, wheels for an airfoil base bar.

I haven't needed them for landing, but if I do, I have them. Otherwise they are great during setup and breakdown because it’s now so easy to drag the control bar around, which is a handy thing when trying to setup in a crowd of flex wings, without scraping up the bar, and the grip tape wrap.

Discuss wheels at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "Ghostbuster / Wills Wing aero wheels" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Midwest Regionals

Mon, Jun 9 2003, 6:03:00 pm GMT

Aeros Combat|Aeros Combat 2|Andreas Olsson|Belinda Boulter|Bubba Goodman|Campbell Bowen|Carl Wallbank|cloud|competition|Dennis Pagen|gaggle|Ghostbuster|Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|Moyes Litespeed|Paris Williams|photo|Raven Sky Sports|Rik Bouwmeester|tail|Terry Presley|Wayne Sayer

http://www.flytec.com/mwregionals

Check out the photo gallery (http://flytec.com/mwregionals/gallery.html) and the animated track logs (Top Tracks button - you have to wait for a few minutes for them to begin animating).

With a strong west wind we initially call a 75 mile out and return due south (east takes us into Milwaukee). But as we get ready to launch this task looks less and less like a good idea given the winds. We quickly switch to a crossing tail wind 35 mile leg to the northeast, and then a final 50 mile leg north-northeast along the coast of Lake Superior. We’re hoping for a little bit of convergence from an on shore flow going against the strong west wind. Maybe just enough to cut down on wind speed.

The BLIPMAP forecasts 500-600 fpm lift (not climb rates) and 7,000’ cloud bases at 1 PM. It sure is looking a lot lower than that at noon, about 4,000’ MSL, and it’s not clear that it is going to get warm enough on the ground to get us that high.

Bo is off first at 12:20 and I’m right behind him. We’ve got 1 to 1:30 PM start window times with 15 minutes intervals. I climb out to cloud base at 4,400’ MSL and immediate head to the north to get at the top of the five mile start circle, so that I can be upwind of the northeast leg with the west, northwest wind.

I hang out there for almost an hour until finally Campbell Bowen, Terry Presley, Andreas Olsson, Wayne Sayer, and Dennis Pagen join me just before the 1:30 and last start time. Bo has already taken an earlier start time thinking that I went on course, when in fact I went five miles to the north. He’ll find himself out there alone.

Given the strong winds (measuring 16 mph), I am absolutely not going to get caught down wind of the first turnpoint and keep pushing north, assuming that I’ll drift to the east when ever I’m thermaling. The rest of the pilots started the task along the course line or down wind of it so we don’t ever see them.

Given my paranoia about not getting caught down wind, I’m soon on my own as the rest of the gaggle moves along the course line to the northeast, except for Campbell whose just south of me. Ten miles out I find myself down to 240’ AGL, but I’m in zero sink. The wind is blowing fiercely and this is usually a bad combination – light lift, strong winds, down low. But this time it works out as with a help of a couple of hawks I slowly climb out to 2,000’ AGL.

There are cu’s every where and the forecast was for strong lift, but other than right over Twin Oaks airport and Raven Sky Sports, the lift has been very light. I’d already warned myself that I had to be especially careful, now I had just been given another warning and a reprieve. Fifteen minutes later I was back down to 450’ AGL.

Two warning and now I was going to make sure that I started working weak lift a lot earlier and not wait until I got too low. The average rate of climb during the task for me was 150 fpm, which is pretty darn low. So much for the forecasted lift. I should have paid more heed to the FSL chart which showed that the lift wouldn’t be as strong as forecast by the BLIPMAP.

With more patience I spend more time in the weak lift (rarely finding any better) and start getting a lot higher. Still it takes a little over two hours to cover thirty five miles. Getting low really slows you down. Weak lift doesn’t help either.

I find the best thermal of the day right at the turnpoint northwest of Milwaukee, and climb to a little over 5,000’ MSL. Campbell Bowen joins me for the ride up, the first pilot I’ve seen in a while and when we head out we almost immediately catch up with Terry Presley and Andreas Olsson.

It’s great to have three more pilots to help out finding the lift and we worth together heading north-northwest trying to stay upwind of the course line. Campbell gets low about eight miles out from the turnpoint as the three of us head northwest to get on the front side of some clouds and avoid the blue hole to our north. This turns out to be a mistake and looking back on it we should have gone northeast to the clouds more on course line. We’re still trying to make our way upwind, when the winds have actually died down some.

It’s a long glide and Terry Presley gets a bit lower and lands. Andreas finds the light lift a mile behind me at 500’ and I go back to join him. The lift is extremely light and we spend the next twenty minutes gaining 2,000’. Andreas is about 500’ over my head having reached the lift first.

It’s now 6 PM and the day is dying. We are still more than 30 miles out. Terry Presley on the ground calls Belinda up and tells here how impressed he was with our low save and that Campbell is high to our east, more on the course line.

Andreas and I work out way slowly to the north working very light lift under any clouds we can get to, but they are drying up, there is cirrus overhead to the north, the sun is filtered and at about 25 miles out the cu’s give out. We land about two miles apart. Campbell is able to eek out another mile and a half not having to make the save that we did.

Flex wing round two:

Place Name Glider miles Total
1 OLSSON Andreas Moyes Litespeed 4 62 900
2 PRESLEY Terry Moyes Litespeed 4 53.1 813
3 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat 42.9 697
4 PAGEN Dennis Moyes Litespeed 4 41.1 675
5 GRZYB Krzysztof Icaro MRX700 30.9 540
6 SAYER Wayne Moyes Litespeed 3 22 430
6 HAGEWOOD Robert Aeros Combat 2 21.9 430
8 GOODMAN Bubba Moyes Litespeed 4 19.9 400
9 MORRIS Dan 17.8 363
10 BURICK Carl 16.2 331
11 BOUMEESTER Rik 15.5 316
12 CIZAUSKAS Rick 7.3 131
13 DUGGAN Dan 0 0

Cumulative:

Place Name Glider Total
1 OLSSON Andreas Moyes Litespeed 4 1556
2 PRESLEY Terry Moyes Litespeed 4 1301
3 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat 1287
4 PAGEN Dennis Moyes Litespeed 4 1059
5 GRZYB Krzysztof Icaro MRX700 841
6 SAYER Wayne Moyes Litespeed 3 831
7 GOODMAN Bubba Moyes Litespeed 4 753
8 HAGEWOOD Robert Aeros Combat 2 752
9 MORRIS Dan 524
10 BURICK Carl 498
11 BOUMEESTER Rik 483
12 CIZAUSKAS Rick 334
13 DUGGAN Dan 139

Rigid wings, round two:

Place Name Glider miles Total
1 BOWEN Campbell Flight Designs Axxess + 63.4 900
2 STRAUB Davis AIR Atos C 60.3 868
3 BROWN Russ Flight Designs Ghostbuster 32.2 501
4 BRANDT Dave AIR Atos 22 385
5 GLEASON Ron AIR Atos-C 19.9 358
6 LAMB James AIR Atos C 12.6 239

Cumulative:

Place Name Glider Total
1 BOWEN Campbell Flight Designs Axxess + 1800
2 STRAUB Davis AIR Atos C 1768
3 BROWN Russ Flight Designs Ghostbuster 1400
4 BRANDT Dave AIR Atos 877
5 LAMB James AIR Atos C 731
6 GLEASON Ron AIR Atos-C 565

Discuss "Midwest Regionals" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Whitewater Rocks

Wed, Jun 4 2003, 6:03:00 pm GMT

Brad Kushner|Campbell Bowen|David "Dave" Glover|David Glover|Florida|Ghostbuster|Quest Air|Raven Sky Sports|Russell "Russ" Brown|site

It was a beautiful afternoon and evening here at Raven Sky Sports in Whitewater, Wisconsin, site of the upcoming Midwest Regionals. The morning sucked with a dull overcast and forecasts for 100 fpm lift at 1 PM (on the BLIPMAP). As we headed off to lunch with Brad Kushner, Russell Brown and Campbell Bowen from Quest Air showed up having flown into Minneapolis in the morning.

They set up their gliders while we talked hang gliding at Randy’s restaurant convinced that nothing was going to be happening today. By the time we got back to the airfield Campbell was ready to go and Russell had called David Glover to ask him to bring his Ghostbuster tips tomorrow.

The cu’s were popping and getting vertical around 2:30 PM. Campbell gets hauled up, climbs to 6,000’ , 1,000’ below the clouds in 900 fpm thermals and is freezing his face off. He must have thought he was still in Florida. He comes down, dresses warmer and goes back up.

The cu’s only get better until after 6 PM. He climbs to 7,000’.

Discuss Midwest flying at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "Whitewater Rocks" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Florida Report

Thu, May 15 2003, 7:00:00 pm GMT

Aeros Target|Florida|Ghostbuster|Jamie Shelden|Quest Air|Ron Gleason|Scot Huber|Vincent "Vince" Endter|XC

Vince Endter writes:

Scot Huber flew 102 miles from Mt. Diablo (Northern California) on May 10th. I have not heard of anyone in the USA going more than 100 miles earlier this year. Has anyone?

Jim Nev flew 100 miles to the south from Quest Air in April in Campbell’s Ghostbuster,

It has been a great flying season in Florida but not a great cross country season, not even a good one. I guess the flight parks that put up the big bucks won’t be paying out any time soon. It’s great to have that challenge still up there.

On Wednesday I had the XC flight of the day with a 27 mile effort in the Aeros Target. The other contender Bo has gone to Kitty Hawk. Jamie has also left for there.

The route to the north-northwest.

Ron Gleason went down early in the AIR ATOS. Johann and Mark P. couldn’t make it back on an out and return to Coleman when the cu’s to the west exploded. Dave Prentice in a paraglider went down at 15 miles out near Leesburg.

I made a low save 10 miles out then went down in a blue hole to the north of the Florida Turnpike between Wildwood and Leesburg. With the wind out of the southwest, I need to be more careful heading toward Wildwood. With lift averaging 200 fpm, it was great to be able to go cross wind in a single surface glider, which I needed to do to get around the upcoming Ocala National Forest.

Discuss cross country with single surface gliders at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "Florida Report" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Take my like-new Ghostbuster

Fri, May 9 2003, 2:00:07 pm EDT

Ghostbuster

Luciano N. de Oliveira <luciano@talberg.com.br> writes:

I’ve got a Flight Design GhostBuster that’s never been flown. I am going to USA and I would like to carry it and sell it there. US$6.500

Discuss Ghostbusters at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "Take my like-new Ghostbuster" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Four tandems all in a row

Mon, Apr 28 2003, 3:00:04 pm EDT

Brad Kushner|Dara Hogan|gaggle|gear|Ghostbuster|landing|Raven Sky Sports|students|tandem|tug

Brad Kushner at Raven Sky Sports <brad@hanggliding.com> writes:

Four tandems thermalling together in the same gaggle, that's the kind of day it was! Tim Thompson and Brad Kushner were the two tug pilots. Lots of Wisconsin Hang Gliding Club members showed up to fly. At first, it looked like it would be a light and scratchy thermalling day, but the lift got great in the afternoon, and remained great until almost 6pm! Those who had gotten 'enough' airtime and folded up their gliders at 3 or 4 pm were surprised to see almost all of the other pilots staying up after 5pm, and then after 6pm.

We had a group of almost a dozen newbies come out for intro tandem flights, plus our usual contingent of Raven Sky Sports' students-in-training. They showed up at around 3:30, got through their paperwork by about 4, and the first tandem flight of the afternoon went up at about 4:15. Within a few minutes, we had three tandem gliders up and soaring. Mark Furst took the fourth tandem glider and took Dara for a thermalling tandem lesson. It was shortly after this, that all four of Raven's Northwing T2 tandem gliders were stacked in a single thermal over the UW-Whitewater athletic complex with Pete Berney in his Ghostbuster 2,000 feet above everybody else in the stack. Whatta day!

Our four Northwing T2 tandem gliders, each one set up with tandem landing gear, High Energy over/under harnesses, Quantum 550 reserves, and in-flight cameras…pre-flighted and tied down, waiting for the students to arrive.

Discuss flight parks at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "Four tandems all in a row" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Florida Report – PGer clobbers single surface guys

Mon, Mar 24 2003, 8:00:01 pm GMT

altitude|Flight Design Ghostbuster|Florida|Ghostbuster|glide ratio|Paris Williams|record|Ron Gleason

http://www.davisstraub.com/Glide/questairweather.htm

North-northwest winds predicted at 20 mph at altitude. Nev flew south over 100 miles in his Flight Design Ghostbuster.

Four single surface guys (Bo, Paris, Ron Gleason, and I) also went for it. Ron landed first at about 35 miles out not wanting to go low over Winter Haven. Bo and Paris landed in Winter Haven two miles further. Paris landed at the Red Socks ball field. I started after these guys having broken a weak link and went around Winter Haven to the east, but ran into the same sink they did and went down just to their east at 37 miles out.

Dave Prentice started after all the rest of us and instead chose the western route perhaps hearing how poorly we did to the east of and in Winter Haven. He stayed high past Winter Haven. He set the new Florida state paragliding record at 78 miles.

Lift averaged 200 fpm. The wind was about 15 mph out of the north-northwest. My glide ratio over the ground was 12 to 1 with the help of the wind. The average speed even with the wind was 23 mph. The speed over the ground when going down wind was 40 mph.

Wednesday looks like a classic southeast day.

Discuss "Florida Report – PGer clobbers single surface guys" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Comments I’ve heard about the Aeros Discus

Sat, Mar 22 2003, 6:00:02 pm GMT

Aeros Discus|Airborne Climax|Flight Design Ghostbuster|G.W. Meadows|Ghostbuster|Moyes Litesport|Quest Air|Wills Wing U2

It is designed to have high performance (for a kingposted glider), yet be easy to fly. By easy, it is meant to be predictable. Lots of gliders are easy in muscle actuation, but they are difficult for intermediate pilots – even dangerous.

This glider is meant to make it so intermediate pilots can have a higher performing glider earlier in their career and so hang 4’s can get on a very good performing glider and not worry about being rusty.

Design criteria:

1 Easy to tow
2 Neutral handling (meaning once in a thermal – no high siding)
3 Directionally stable (minimum wing walking – in yaw/roll coupling)
4 Easy to Land.
5 All of this while keeping low sink rate and as high a glide as possible – but don’t give up the first 4 to get better glide.

(editor’s note: From my two short test flights, I would say that it met all those criteria. I expect to be able to take further flights.

I wondered about the prices that the Aeros Discus, Wills Wing U2, and Moyes Litesport (which Moyes markets to advanced, not intermediate, pilots) went for. On the Wills Wing site www.willswing.com the U2 suggested price is $4495. The Litesport’s suggested retail price is $4995 at (http://www.moyesamerica.com http://www.moyesamerica.com/partlist.htm). I couldn’t find a suggested retail price for the Discus on www.justfly.com. I asked G.W. Meadows by e-mail and he wrote:

Discus is $4295 complete.

That includes aerofoil downtubes, speedbar and choice of custom colors. Only other option is the ‘B’ model option, that breaks down to seven feet. It flies exactly the same, weighs about two pounds more and cost $100 more. One can break it down without any tools.

Looking at the product descriptions on the various web sites indicates that the Moyes Litesport is being marketed at the advanced pilot (it’s under their advanced section), who doesn’t want the hassles (if any) and expense of the topless glider. (“The Litesport performs similarly to a non-kingposted glider, but handles like an intermediate glider, making it suitable for many pilots whether competitive or recreational.”) I must say that flying the Airborne Climax 2, I didn’t notice any hassles.

The U2 is billed, it seems to me, as an advanced intermediate glider (“The U2 is an all new, very high performance glider with handling characteristics suitable for pilots of intermediate and higher level skills and experience. The U2 was conceived as a very light-weight glider with performance approaching that of the much heavier, more expensive, and more challenging competition class wings.”).

Aeros Discus (“A ‘high-end’ intermediate hang glider that will have ‘advanced’ pilots selling their topless gliders”) seems to be aimed more at the middle of the intermediate spectrum. But then you can make your own interpretations of these marketing messages.

Late update: On Saturday I made three demo flights in three different gliders. The longest flight, which took place in the middle of the day, was on the Aeros Discus in light thermal conditions. The Discus performs pretty much as stated above.

As a rigid wing pilot I found it a bit stiff, but actually normal for a flex wing glider. Stiff, in the sense of initiating a roll. I’m use to just moving the bar from side to side and having the glider turn for me. In flex wing you have to move your body from side to side to get it to turn (in case you forgot).

With the VG on it was quite stiff, like all flex wings are with their VG’s on. It was very easy to launch, fly and land. Very controllable.

I was flying with Nev on a Flight Design Ghostbuster, Mark P. on a Aeros Stalker2, and a slew of folks on various flex wings. Nev, Mark and I all got in the same light thermal together with Mark and I at the same altitude and Nev 100 feet below. For the next ten minutes Mark and I climbed slowly at the same rate. Nev climbed slowly through us and got 50 feet over us.

After that Nev was always higher and further away than either Mark or I. When Mark and I went on glide, and I would follow Mark, he could go faster, and had a slightly better glide. Nev was just too high and didn’t come down.

This went on for an hour and a half. The Discus did a great job. I only had one other glider climb up through me, a Icaro 2000 Laminar MRx. And it did so very slowly.

It looks to me like the Discus is a high performance flex wing glider.

I do hope that I’m not renting these gliders, but just paying for the tows, so that I can afford to keep flying these other machines and reviewing them for you all. With the Wills Wing days and the demo days at Quest Air coming up, it looks like I will have a lot more to write about.)

Discuss "Comments I’ve heard about the Aeros Discus" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Aeros Stalker 2.25

Tue, Mar 11 2003, 10:00:09 pm GMT

Dragonfly|Exxtacy|G.W. Meadows|Ghostbuster|Mark Poustinchian|Russell "Russ" Brown|Wills Wing Falcon|Icaro 2000 Laminar MRX 700

Hey, there is no Aeros Stalker 2.25. It’s a joke. I made it up. Okay, but today I was third in line to fly a new and improved Aeros Stalker that Mark Poustinchian got delivered to him from Aeros and GW Meadows the other day. Mark got to fly it during the best part of the day. Russell Brown had a good long cold flight with it a bit later. And I got to fly around in the extremely light, but completely enjoyable evening air after 4PM.

Now, adroit Oz Report readers will remember that I really enjoyed flying the Stalker 2 last spring in the evening air, but got scared when I flew it without a tail in the middle of the day. So keep that in mind. BTW, I didn’t have a tail this time either, just a fin.

First, what’s different? No dihedral. The wings as flat as a pancake. Second, increased nose angle, i.e. less sweep. A little bit. Third, we are flying with Mark’s vertical fin.

Russell, who flies a Ghostbuster, loved it. Mark is concerned that it flies too fast and he won’t be able to stay up in light air. Russell said it thermaled fine at about 30 mph (slowest it would go), and stayed right in the core up to the steepest bank angle. No one noticed much adverse yaw with the fin.

What did I notice? First, it is about ten times easier to tow than the Wills Wing Falcon. It goes as fast as the Dragonfly to begin with. There’s a fin, which I assume helps. You can keep the bar out on tow, no need to pull into your waist. It tracks right behind the tug. Easier on the tug pilot also. Just pull with a bridle off your shoulders.

Second, the wind noise. It sure sounds like it is going a heck of a lot faster than the Falcon (my base reference these days). I mean a lot faster. I don’t ever remember hearing this much wind noise no matter how hard I pulled in on the Falcon.

I pull on the flaps (micro flaps) and sorta pushed out the bar. The wind noise went down a little bit. I haven’t pushed out on a rigid wing since I owned an Exxtacy. I could slow that thing down to 19 mph. I’m too scared to push out the Stalker2. I wonder what it would do in a straight push out. I tried to get myself to do it a few times, but no luck.

I was staying up just fine in spite of the apparent high speed of the Stalker 2.25. I climbed up on an Icaro 2000 Laminar MRX 700 and then got above it and stayed exactly right with it about 50 feet over it in the same lift. Mark has been complaining about the Stalker climb rate, claiming that in a brand X rigid wing he could out climb every flex wing on the planet. In the Stalker2 he feels he has to work at it to do so.

I haven’t been able to out climb every flex wing on the planet in the brand X rigid wing, so either Mark is just a vastly superior climber or somebody has a hazy memory here. Anyway, to me it seemed like the Stalker2.25 climbed just fine in light lift and gained 1000’ on a high performance flex wing. Mark is real concerned about light lift on those long Florida XC days. Maybe that is his issue.

Mark and Russell said that the bar pressure was less on this version than the 2, but I found there to be plenty of bar pressure, maybe too much for my liking. The pilot is hanging way forward of the control frame apex (more on this in a later issue), so you wouldn’t think that there was an issue re pulling in. Still, I had a hard time getting the bar to my waist. Maybe at that position I’m past VNE. I didn’t have an airspeed indicator with me.

Because the downtubes are raked so far back (to allow for somewhat reasonable static balance when you’ve got the glider on your shoulders), pilots aren’t use to the downtube position when they get upright coming in to land. As they grasp the down tubes, they tend to let the nose come up as the downtubes are so far back. Pilots need to be aware of this idiosyncrasy so that they remember to pull in more than they are use to. I landed without a problem, as did Russell, Bo, and Mark, but we were all prepared for this.

More on the Stalker 2.25 in later issues.

Discuss "Aeros Stalker 2.25" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Florida Report

Wed, Feb 26 2003, 9:00:01 pm GMT

Belinda Boulter|Brad Gryder|Campbell Bowen|David "Dave" Glover|Dragonfly|G.W. Meadows|Ghostbuster|Mike Barber|Russell "Russ" Brown|Wallaby Ranch|Wills Wing Falcon

With rain in the forecast for the weekend, starting tomorrow, this looked like the day to fly. Campbell Bowen showed up, Brad Gryder was ready to fly as always, and Mark P. was also ready to go for it. G.W. has sold the Aeros Stalker to a Canadian pilot so Mark is flying Russell Brown’s Ghostbuster while waiting for the new super Stalker to come in. It was supposed to ship last week.

With David Glover in Costa Rica I’ve got the go ahead to fly his AIR ATOS-C or Wills Wing Falcon 195. The $1,000 prize for the first 100 miler on a single surface from Quest (also from Wallaby) made it an easy decision to fly the Falcon. Besides I want to take it easy on Belinda.

Brad was off first but got off too low and came back for another tow. Before he took it he gave me a hand getting going and I had a very smooth tow with Les at the controls of the Bailey-Moyes Dragonfly. This was in contrast to my first of the year Falcon flight last spring where I wasn’t ready for the flex wing control movements and was experiencing quite a bit of PIO for the first two hundred feet.

This time I was ready and apparently my body knew what to do, as it was steady behind the tug until Les found me a nice thermal at 2,000’ and I was willing to give it a try. I was flying with only the Brauninger IQ/Sonic vario (audio only), so I have only a rough idea of how high I was or what the thermal strength was, but I could tell that they weren’t strong and I wasn’t getting that high. Probably thermals were at a maximum 200 fpm (that’s what Mark said), and I spent lots of time in ones less than 50 fpm.

With an east-southeast wind, I drifted down wind as I saw Mark P. pin off upwind of me. He was apparently having difficulties, hanging too low, and later not able to pull the flaps out. Turns out Russell had a special extra string that pulled out the flaps if they got stuck, but Mark didn’t know that.

Mark came my way as he saw me slowly circling up and went on to find a bit more further on. The thermals was extremely mellow (I love that), but the lift was also almost non existent and you could only climb about 1,000’ before it would peter out.

I headed north along the west side of highway 33 headed toward the Turnpike following Mark. I didn’t know that he was not a happy camper and not pleased with the light lift. I was really enjoying it and thinking how much fun it was to fly this cross between a rigid wing and a paraglider. The sink was as light as the lift.

Mark get going and going and going and I had to stop and turn as otherwise I wouldn’t be able to stay up. There was water everywhere below me. Not only are the rivers, creeks and lakes full, but so are the fields. There doesn’t seem any place for it to go so it just sits there.

There are soaring bird every where and I’m using them to help me find the cores. I don’t see any black vultures but I do see the better soaring turkey vultures and a number of hawks.

I hang in there in light lift over flooded fields as Mark decides to land as he’s not having fun. Campbell has apparently landed back toward Quest and talks someone into flying out and pulling him out of the field. He continues his cross country flight.

I get up very slowly, but for some reason can’t get to cloud base, however high that is, and it seems to be about 4,000’. Maybe just too impatient. I am hearing the bogus programs that are running in my head masquerading as thought processes, but I can tell they are just tapes, and not any original thinking.

One tape says head out of this weak stuff and find real lift. Another says that this day is too weak to go far. Another says stay by the road. Another says that the water down below is scary. And on and on. These guys never give up.

I finally go on glide after a good long slow climb from about 1,000’ and head toward the next couple of clouds. Mark is packing up and getting ready to go back to Quest. I can’t see Bowen or Brad.

This time there is not light sink in between clouds and I’m heading down way too fast. I go as close to the next clouds as I can get but all I’m getting is fast sink. I come down 20 miles out from Quest just a couple of miles south of the Turnpike.

After I break down I can hear Mike Barber talking to his student on the radio over Wallaby Ranch. He’s in 500 fpm lift, so it sounds like it is a lot nicer where he’s at. He doesn’t have to deal with the swamps to the north of Quest. It can be drier up by the Florida ridge.

Still I’m a big fan of the flats between highway 50 and the Turnpike and it is still quite possible to fly the clouds instead of the ground in this area. The water doesn’t seem to matter as much as you think it would.

Will the super Stalker show up? Will Mark like it? Will it slow down in light lift? Will we be grounded for the next week in rain? Will it be Bo or I or someone else to get the first 100 miler on a single surface glider in Florida?

Discuss "Florida Report" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Tsunami (formerly Top Secret) »

Wed, Jan 15 2003, 6:00:04 pm EST

Ghostbuster|Tsunami

Ghostbuster|Mark Taggart|Tsunami

Mark Taggart «mark» writes:

I have had one sled ride so far from Chabre, at St Andre on New Years day lasting 30 minutes in still conditions:

Feedback so far:

Rigging:

- Is now even quicker to rig

- The old TS sail was a disgrace by modern HG standards with wrinkles the size of waves at the tips - but despite this IMHO it flew better than my Ghostbuster

- The new sail is now extremely clean and has Allan key adjuster's so that each rib can be tuned to tighten the sail means as the sail bags or shrinks you can adjust each section

Flying:

- A faster than my Ghostbuster

- Almost made it to Chamette having left Chabre in lightly sinking air 100ft below t/o - glide is impressive

- Smaller spoilerons means turning is not as fast as it was when it was a Topsecret

- Feels much better and less prone to side slip than it used to be

- A superb wing - the difference in speed range is incredible

Verdict:

- It’s a shame Gerard not did have the sail quality sorted when he released the TS.

- Its great that "upgrades" like this can even be made to a wing that is 2 years old

- The performance leap is very noticeable

- The cost 2,700 EURO - is a lot of money for the modification however there is a huge amount of work involved in converting the wing.

The TS is a great wing to fly. For the cost reasons don't upgrade get the new Tsunami. If you want to sell your old Topsecret to upgrade please get in touch.

Oz Report in Cross Country Magazine

Wed, Nov 20 2002, 7:00:02 pm GMT

Cross Country Magazine|Oz Report|Peter Loeskow

Cross Country readers may have seen the recent article (in XC #83) on the Oz Report on page 13. The article came from an interview I did while at the Worlds at Chelan Butte. Noel Whittal, the Cross Country Magazine owner, sent a local paraglider pilot to interview me about the Oz Report.

Here is what Peter Loeskow <Peter.Loeskow@zeta.telenordia.se> had to say about the article:

I'd like to express my resentment of the tone of that "profile" of Davis Straub.

Matt Gerdes states that Davis Straub is "the creator of the e-zine everybody loves to hate". This is rubbish, worth only a tabloid, and an offense to the multitude of long-time subscribers who I bet like me love to love the result of Davis' great unpaid(!) efforts.

I don't appreciate the choice of picture either. That one is a fun one meant for those who know from other pictures in the Oz Report what he normally looks like. Those who don't know that, though, are led to believe that blued hair is Davis' normal "styling", while in reality it was dyed on one occasion, for fun I assume, together with others who also dyed their hair blue. I doubt that Davis' hair was blue when he met Matt Gerdes. Depicting Davis as a blue-haired person looks to me like another attempt at ridicule, and I resent that too.

A "profile" does not have to the gushing of an adoring fan, of course, but an interview with Davis could have resulted in something else, somewhat preferable to that article, IMHO

I say go for the publicity. If more people read the Oz Report, they can make up their own minds. Maybe Noel will send me a copy of the article and I can publish it also.

Discuss "Oz Report in Cross Country Magazine" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Flying the Airborne Climax C2 14

Wed, Nov 20 2002, 7:00:01 pm GMT

A.I.R. ATOS C|Airborne Climax|Conrad Loten|David "Dave" Proctor|Ghostbuster|Rick "Ricky" Duncan|Steve Moyes

Tony Deleo <Writetonyd@aol.com> writes:

I’ve noticed your flying a flex wing. Are you considering going to same and if so what are the reasons?

I perhaps forgot to mention that my AIR ATOS-C is on the boat coming from Los Angeles. At the time I left the states I hadn’t contemplated flying at Gulgong because when I sent off my ATOS I hadn’t heard about this meet.

I still wasn’t thinking of coming to this meet, but Ricky Duncan and Rob Hibbard at Airborne offered to fix me up with a Sting, a Fun, or a Climax. At first I thought the meet was on the east coast, and a Sting seemed like the appropriate glider. Then I realized that it was out here west of the Blue Mountains, and the Climax seemed the better choice, in spite of my lack of recent experience on a topless flex wing. BTW, a pilot flying a Sting yesterday did much better than I and almost made goal on the 138 km task with four turnpoints.

I was nervous about flying the Climax, but I’m now very happy that I did. It is a fun glider to fly and I think that I was beginning to get the hang of it by the end of the meet.

Proctor, Dave <dproctor@mc.com> writes:

You might want to try a trick I learned while flying my old Formula which had a reputation for yawing all over the place when flown fast. When you want to go fast don't just pull the bar back but also push down. Lock your elbows into your sides and concentrate on keeping your arms locked in position. This accomplishes two things. It locks your body in position to stop swinging PIOs, and with your mass locked tightly to the glider it increases the yaw moment, helping to dampen out yaw.

Today it went much better with the PIO and the yaws. I’m finally getting use to the glider and figuring out how to counteract my own inducement to yawing.

It was great towing with the bar stuffed, which I had to do to keep the glider down with the trike. Without the VG full on this takes a bit more muscle, but I felt fine about it. I really like the idea of balling up with my knees out and getting the weight under the CG.

Overall I felt great about flying the Climax. Except for some few times in turbulence I felt very comfortable in the glider. While in the ATOS without the tail my brain would continually go through the tucking scenario every time I hit turbulence. That tape didn’t play while I was flying the Climax. This, of course, is a great relief. It doesn’t mean that the Climax can’t tuck, it just means that the way it feels to me doesn’t trigger my subconscious bad response. It feels solid.

The tailless ATOS (and the tailless Ghostbuster that I flew the other day) seem to be skittery. Whatever that motion is it is the one that triggers the tuck tape. I’m hoping that when I get the tail on the ATOS in Australia, the tuck tape will stay on the shelf. I don’t know for sure.

I was so happy to find out that I wasn’t scared of hang gliding, just scared of flying the tailless ATOS. It was a great relief to find out that I wasn’t permanently ruined. Or that I didn’t have to suffer for a few years until I could enjoy hang gliding again. If I find that I can’t enjoy flying a rigid wing even with a tail because the tuck tape gets triggered by the feel of the glider, then, I can just fly a flex wing and be happy again.

Thanks to Ricky and Rob for letting me fly their baby. The Climaxes have definitely improved over their short life time and it is great to see another great topless flex wing from an Australian manufacturer.

Towing the Climax on Monday

How does the Climax compare with the Litespeed? I really have no personal experience that would let me make anything near a good judgment call. I do know from watching Rohan that the Climaxes have improved a lot. Obviously the Climax pilots are doing well in this meet.

One thing that distinguishes flex wings from rigid wings, is that the flex wings can be tuned (and detuned) in so many different ways. This is both a positive and a negative. If something is wrong, it is nice to be able to fix it in the field quickly. But then the chances of something being wrong are much higher than with a rigid wing, because there is so much flexibility built into the design of a flex wing.

With a rigid wing glider, the factory builds it to a specification, and as long as it stays within the spec, you basically aren’t supposed to do anything to it. It is very difficult to adjust the twist, and the sweep has a very narrow range. You can’t recamber the battens, or without difficulty move one tip up and the other down.

I found that it was easier to set up the ATOS than the Climax, not that it was particularly hard to set up the Climax. It just took more time as I had to put in all the battens. The dive sticks were very easy to put in place and fold up in the Climax. The Mylar sail was difficult to roll compared to a rigid wing, which doesn’t have Mylar and whose sail is very easy to deal with. Airborne has a Dacron version now.

With a flex wing you feel like you are part of a family as support is usually nearby. With a rigid, you are part of a minority and you had better be prepared to fix it on your own.

I didn’t feel that there was any difference in the responsiveness of the Climax compared to the ATOS. They both took a while to initiate turns. It was a little more work with the Climax, as with any flex wing, because you had to move your body, not just the control frame. This meant more work for my shoulders. I started taking Ibuprofen again.

I loved landing the Climax. The frame is so big, and the glider is so gentle with the VG off. It feels like an intermediate glider.

After a while I learned to enjoy thermaling the Climax. I was just getting use to it. With the VG all the way off, it is easy to turn. Once I got the right hand turn fixed, I didn’t have to high side it.

The VG is very easy to pull on as it has a long throw. I was a bit nervous flying with full VG because when I hit a thermal I would get tossed about. You want to get the VG off right away so that you can maneuver in the thermals.

I remembered why we have speed bars: in order to allow you to push against the bar to push your weight over to one side. I had forgotten about this aspect of speed bars flying the ATOS.

On the last day Steve Moyes thought I might want to fly the Litesport, and I told him yes that I would, but that I felt I should continue flying the Climax through the meet as Airborne had been so generous with their offer to let me fly the Climax. Hopefully Steve will give me another chance later to fly the Litesport before the Australian Open (maybe at Stanwell) and I will have an opportunity to write about that experience.

I have written some about the Litesport before, but haven’t flown it enough to really get to know it. I did enjoy flying Conrad’s Moyes Sonic at the beach (especially without the harness).

Would I fly a flex wing glider rather than a rigid wing in the upcoming competitions? Well, I’m going to give my ATOS a go first and see how it feels. If the inner voices are calmed down by its behavior, then that’s my preferred option. But life is strange, so who knows what will happen.

Thanks again to Ricky for getting me a wonderful glider to fly.

Discuss "Flying the Airborne Climax C2 14" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Sunday at Mount Tamborine

Sun, Nov 10 2002, 3:00:02 am EST

Ghostbuster

Everyone showed up for the social flying at Mount Tamborine on Sunday. The day’s contest was a flight out 45 kilometers to the west, southwest, down wind.

Siggi Schnitzger on Saturday had offered to let me fly his Ghostbuster on Sunday, and I took him up on his generous offer. He lives 8 kilometers from the launch, so we just tooled down the road to pick it up after getting to launch.

It was high pressures and blue with a pronounced inversion that kept the smoke from the new fires near the Durand’s house from getting higher than 6,000’. There was plenty of lift and it was easy to fly wherever.

Unfortunately, I took out a down tube on landing coming in slow over a fence. It sure is nice to have these super soft down tubes that break easily and take all the impact leaving the pilot and glider unscathed.

Exxtacy and Mosquito

Mon, Sep 2 2002, 6:00:03 pm EDT

Ghostbuster|Neville Almond

Neville Almond «n_almond» writes:

I have about 40 hours on my Ghostbuster/Solar Wings 'Booster' combination, a fairly similar configuration. About 15 to 18 of these hours were probably under Power. I had a pleasant time, but the characteristics of the glider were very different with a power unit (irrespective of whether power on/off), namely:

Obviously a lot more weight (22kg, that’s about 45 pounds)
Most of this weight is just behind your feet (aggravating the static balance?)
The difference in drag between a folded prop and fixed prop is enormous! (I could do both on my booster)
Although I experienced no major problems, the sink rate in descending turns could sometimes be quite alarming

I can also recommend checking over your glider with the extra stress the power unit is putting on it - e.g. my bolt on the rear keel, that holds the lower wires: I found this slightly 'bent' after just two flights. I believe it’s not just a weight issue, but where the weight is (i.e. 45 lbs six foot behind you is a reasonable moment arm?)

I've now sold the power unit, as I found the additional weight (even with motor off & prop folded) undesirable

Tails

Fri, Aug 9 2002, 6:00:05 pm EDT

American Paragliding|Ghostbuster|PG

Mike Eberle, North American Paragliding, Inc. «napi» writes:

A couple years ago I brought in a tail as a sample that was used on the GhostBuster. Larry Jorgenson is using my one sample on his Axxess at this stage and really likes it. If there is interest in getting this type of tail, I am able to get more at a retail cost of US$600. I need to order a minimum of six pieces so would only do this once I have at least four firm orders. Delivery time would be about six weeks from when I place the order.

If you are interested in this, please contact me directly and I will help you get one.

Platform towing a Ghostbuster

Sat, Jun 29 2002, 1:00:05 pm EDT

Ghostbuster|Steve Daleo

cart|Ghostbuster|Steve Daleo

http://www.adventureairsports.com/061502.htm

I’ve written before about the difficult in truck or ATOL or platform towing a rigid wing hang glider because the pilot has little to no control over the roll angle of the wings when they are on the platform. The same is true of course when rigid wing pilots aerotow of course, except that you can get someone to run with your wing to keep it level until you have built up enough speed to get the wings flying.

The same is true if you are ATOL towing on the low lying platform towed behind a truck or car. Steve Daleo «stevedaleo» writes:

Here are a couple of shots platform towing a GhostBuster. It was pretty much a non-event. The trick is the same as on a cart. Having a wing runner stabilize things for a couple steps till the spoilerons take over eliminates wing rocking. As expected, the glider is effortless on tow.

http://www.adventureairsports.com/061502.htm

Oh, oh, spin in!

Sun, Jun 2 2002, 4:00:02 am EDT

carbon fiber|Ghostbuster|Robert Lowe

Robert Lowe «SKYOUT1» writes:

You will recall my report that Jay Gianforte had fallen out of a tree, and busted himself up, and that hang gliding was pretty much as safe as hanging a rope in a tree.

BOFF SOCK ZOWIE

Now I’ve proved it! I have just gotten out of the hospital with the same broken bones, i.e., pelvis, leg, arm, ribs, fingers, toes, jaw after spinning my tightly-tuned GhostBuster into rocks from around 200 ft.

As the spring winds instantly dropped from 20 to zero in the middle of a slow left turn, I spun 3 revolutions, then stared straight at the rocks I was heading towards, nailed it straight down to try to regain airspeed, and lacking another 50 – 100 feet ate it big time into the rocky hill.

The only possible reason for survival at all was the Carbon CG harness, as no one there thought there was any possibility I would be found alive. The harness suffered only a couple of small holes near one leg, some scratches, and is still flyable. The GhostBuster has one wing intact, and another in little pieces.

A pilot overhead said he thought he had heard lightning strike, but it was me going in on the right wing. I will be eternally grateful for the protection this high tech and unusual harness provided. What a strange coincidence after what just happened to Jay, and my sarcastic statements that followed. Aren't you gad you have one too!!!!

Rob is very convinced that the Carbon CG harness was very important to his survival:

I really am glad the harness protected me so much, far more than i ever imagined. My guts would have been sprayed about.

(editor’s note: It would appear from Jay’s description that he has mainly one wing of his GhostBuster to thank for absorbing some of the force of his handing. Breaking a carbon fiber wing into small pieces requires a lot of force and certainly could absorb the majority of the shock of hitting the hill side.

Flying a rigid wing hang glider with a high angle of attack (required to fly it slow in these circumstances) next to the hillside is a prescription for disaster and death. Rigid wing hang gliders stall and spin easier than flex wing hang gliders. Keeping the angle of attack low by pulling in is a continual requirement for flying these gliders.

Rob is a very experienced GhostBuster pilot and it is quite upsetting to receive this story. I have little interest in scratching low and slow in my ATOS on any hill side. Thank goodness for the kinds of conditions I normally fly in.)

Stalker 2 »

Sun, May 26 2002, 1:00:01 pm EDT

Bo Hagewood|Florida|Ghostbuster|Quest Air|sailplane|Steve Kroop

Bo Hagewood|Campbell Bowen|Florida|Ghostbuster|Quest Air|sailplane|Steve Kroop

Bo Hagewood|Campbell Bowen|Florida|Ghostbuster|Quest Air|Russell Brown|sailplane|Steve Kroop

Bo Hagewood|Campbell Bowen|Florida|Ghostbuster|Quest Air|Russell Brown|sailplane|Steve Kroop

Steve Kroop «USAFlytec» writes:

Recently GW Meadows asked us to test the performance of the New Aeros Stalker 2 against the Atos-C, I assume under the premise that the Atos -C is the benchmark of rigid hang gliders. The following is not a full review of either glider, rather a description of the side-by-side comparison tests and the results. Both Gliders had very similar control frames for drag reduction and both gliders were extremely 'clean'.

The first comparison that was done was with Campbell Bowen on the Stalker 2 and myself on the Atos-C in midday Spring conditions. We were both flying racing style harnesses and Flytec variometers (of course!). It should be noted at this point thatCampbell outweighs me by about 50 lbs. - which should be taken in consideration with respect to the following observations. However, on subsequent flights evenly weight matched pilots were used and the results were consistent. The lift was good on this day with climb rates around 6-800 fpm. My observation on this flight was that I, on the Atos-C was consistently out-climbing the Stalker and the Stalker was consistently out gliding me on the Atos-C. Both gliders seemed to bank up very well.Campbell felt that the Stalker was trimmed a little fast making it harder to slow down -this may accounted for some of the climb difference.

On glides, the two gliders were pretty evenly matched at the lower to moderate speed range but as soon asCampbell flew the Stalker 2 at the upper speed range (above 45 mph) it was clear that he was leaving me, on the Atos-C, in the dust. The Atos-C had considerable bar pressure above 45 mph which made it difficult for me to try to keep up with the Stalker 2. Clearly he was pulling away from me on the ATOS-C while staying at my level - I was impressed.

The next comparison was done with Bo and Russell Brown (less than 15 lb. difference in pilot weight). This was also amidday thermaling flight. This time Bo was on the Atos-C and Russ was on the Stalker 2. Similar results were observed with these two pilots. Bo on the Atos-C seemed to have a slight climb advantage. Russ, however, on the Stalker 2 had a glide advantage in the mid range and strong advantage at the very top end (above 55 mph) due to the bucking experienced by Bo on the Atos.

The final comparison flight was done in perfectly smooth air (mid morning above any convection). We towed to 5500', once again with Bo on the Stalker 2 and myself on the Atos-C. Bo ballasted up so our weight difference was less than 20 lbs. Our first test was a simulated thermaling test. We circled together wing tip to wing tip as if we were in a thermal. The premise here was that this test would eliminate any pilot skill advantage that may have occurred in earlier tests and accurately compare the sink rates in a turn as if the gliders were thermaling. After a couple minutes of turning, at varios bank angles, there did not seem to be a bit of difference between the two gliders. This leads me to believe that the difference in climb rate experienced in earlier flights was not glider related but a result of pilot ability and/or wing loading. We then performed a series of glides of a minute or so each at 35, 40, 45 and 50 mph. The two gliders had no perceivable difference at 35 and 40. However, at 45 mph the Stalker 2 was visibly performing better than the Atos. After about a minute of glide the Stalker 2 was about 20 feet higher than the Atos. Similar results were seen at 50 mph although the altitude difference was less (about 10'). We did not test above 50 mph due to the Atos-C bar pressure (frankly I was getting tired - I guess I am out of flying shape ;-) and due to the Atos C's tendency to buck at higher speeds. The results seen in this test seemed to coincide with the results observed in the earlier test in mixed air, however, not quite as dramatic as seen during the glides against Campbell on the Stalker 2 (probably due to wing loading).

The last test we did was straight and level min-sink performance. This was also done above any convection. Both gliders were evenly matched at 120 fpm at no flaps, 140 fpm at half flaps and 160 fpm at full flaps.

Bo Hagewood comments: My heart still lies under the wings of a flex wing glider, but recently I was afforded the chance to test fly and compare the new Stalker 2 and Atos-C. My testing partner will give ya the technical point of view but I will say that the Stalker 2 seemed to have slight glide advantage over the Atos -C at the 40-50 mph speed range while matching the Atos' sink rate at the low end. Most importantly I felt safer flying the Stalker 2 both on and off tow.

Russell Brown comments: Recently GW, from US Aeros, sent a Stalker 2 over to us at Quest Air. While I normally fly a GhostBuster I was happy to get the opportunity to fly the new Stalker 2. On tow, inmidday conditions, the glider was very stable and handled with ease. Off tow, I noticed that the Stalker 2 had a very snappy roll response - due to the Stalker's ailerons instead of spoilers used on other rigids. I think with a few more flights I would get dialed in quite nicely. Even though it is almost June we have been enjoying springtime conditions here at Quest Air so I was able to test fly the Stalker 2 in moderately strong (for Florida) conditions. While thermaling, the Stalker banks and maintains bank angle and climbs very well.

During this flight I was flying with Bo (on the Atos-C). We observed that the glide of the Stalker 2 was about the same as the Atos-C at about 40 mph. At higher speeds (about 45-50 mph) I noticed that I (on the Stalker) was out gliding Bo (on the Atos). As we continued the glide I pulled in to about 55 mph and noticed that the Stalker 2 pulled away from the Atos-C. Later, I asked Bo about it and be said that the Atos started bucking (at about 55) so he did not want to fly any faster. I continued the glide and took the Stalker to +60 mph and noticed no bad tendencies. Bottom line: The Stalker is a great glider to fly.

Campbell Bowen comments: Last Saturday I had an opportunity to fly the Stalker II. The day was good with cloud base at about 6,200. Steve Kroop was flying next to me in an Atos-C. Each time we topped out I would charge out towards the next cloud - I couldn't resist racing. The Stalker held a good glide at high speed, had mild bar pressure and the center of pressure remained stable. It was comfortable and fun to fly fast. Roll control while thermaling was incredibly light and it was easy to center in strong lift. Yaw coordination in thermaling turns felt perfect. The only time I noticed any adverse yaw was while making small course corrections on straight glides. This did not appear to cause any problems. It just felt very different from flying a spoiler controlled rigid which always yaws in the direction of the turn. The handling and feel of the glider reminded me very much of a high performance sailplane. My overall impression of the Stalker is excellent. If you are interested in a rigid wing glider, I highly recommend you get a test flight.

(editor’s note: When flying with ballast I carry 22 pounds. I feel – as do all other competition pilots - that this makes a very significant difference in my performance. The above glide tests report weight differences in this range and higher between Stalker 2 and ATOS-C pilots.)

118.1 mile East coast triangle

Thu, May 2 2002, 3:00:01 am EDT

carbon fiber|Felix Ruehle|Ghostbuster|Mark Poustinchian|Quest Air|record|Ron Gleason

Mark Poustinchian «mpousti2000» writes:

Yesterday Ron Gleason and I decided to set a 120-mile triangle task and try to set a new East Coast record from Quest Air. The first turn point was to the NW over the big Dunnellon airport. The second turn point was NE of lake Weir overOcala national forest and then back to Quest Air. It started out like mission impossible on the first leg. We could hardly stay above 2000’.

I towed first and was a couple miles away from Ron. With the massive sink between the thermals and lack of altitude, I needed some help to spot thermals, however Ron got low and I had to keep going or sink out in sink pockets. We survived, however Ron got further behind and I decided to get going alone while the going got better.

About 10 miles from Dunnellon the conditions improved and we were able to get over 4000’ agl. By the time I was to the first turn point Ron was low about 5 miles behind and very low. He had several low saves from 500’ agl. The clouds were getting big and I was afraid that we may not be able to finish the task due to thunder storms.

I was getting over 5000’ agl on the second leg and started to let go of the breaks and flew much faster. The second turn point was difficult due to lack of landing zones. So I made sure to get high enough to make it before heading south to Quest Air. By the time I was over the second turn point I had the anticipated conversion zone all the way to back to Quest Air.

Big clouds were lined up and they actually started to look a little scary. I worked a thermal very close to the last turn point over Ocala National Forest and after that I made a total of 10 turns while I glided 40 miles back to Quest Air. I counted the turns on my track log. The last leg was very fast because I was having trouble with too much altitude. I had to get around some big clouds so that I could see where I was going. Too much lift and big dark clouds made me stuff the bar more and more on my ATOS with the beautiful new sail, new spoiler system and new carbon fiber tips.

By the time I was about 10 miles away from Quest Air over 5000’ agl, Ron was getting close to landing and landed by Lady Lake about 25 to 30 miles away from Quest Air. He watched the thunder storms develop and got a good dose of rain. I got over Quest Air about 3500’ and landed before the rain after 4 hours and 45 minutes of flying.

I lost my recorded points from the start on my eMap GPS. Unfortunately I can’t set the time for recording on this GPS and it is only good for the last few hours of a flight. However, the only part that I lost was ½ of the first leg.

My ATOS flies so much better now and I absolutely love the performance, speed and it’s sweet light handling. I did a little X-C flight with another great X-C pilot (a possible USA World Team member) on the new ACCESS+ and now I am convinced that the ATOS is the glider that I want to fly.

When this pilot and I were flying GhostBusters, I didn’t have a chance on glide when I was gliding with him. This was due to his built in ballast, but now with me on the ATOS and him on the ACCESS+, it is a different ball game. I want to thank Felix Ruehle and Christoph from AIR for putting the new sail on my glider and doing the upgrades.

Now, the new records are well within reach. I don’t do the comps because I hate gaggle flying and I want to be on my own and love the low saves and crossing the big blue holes and going far with my ATOS. I am also working on a great hang gliding screen saver for AIR and it will be ready for free down load soon.

Flytec Championship – 70 mile fish bowl »

Sat, Apr 27 2002, 9:00:00 pm GMT

A.I.R. ATOS|Aeros Combat|Aeros Combat 2|Aeros Ltd|Alex Ploner|Chris Arai|Christian Ciech|cloud|competition|Curt Warren|David "Dave" Glover|Flytec Championships 2002|Flytec Championships 2005|gaggle|GAP|Gary Osoba|Ghostbuster|job|Mike Barber|Moyes Delta Gliders|Moyes Litespeed|Quest Air|Ron Gleason|Steve Kroop|tail|tracker|tug|video|weather|Wills Wing Talon

David Glover was very smart and every day as the meet went on he would drag up folks to thank them for their help at the Flytec Championship. During the week he thanked the tug pilots, the volunteers, the ground crew, the Quest Air crew, the people who put the dinners together, Frank and Steve Kroop, the registration crew, etc. Because it happened every day everyone got more applause and more attention than if he had put it off until the last night, when everyone gets crammed together.

David and Steve did something also very clever, they had GW create a video taking footage and shots during the week. On Saturday night, the last night of the Flytec Championship, the video was ready to go and we got to see the whole video with the sound track. It was amazing that it had been done so quickly, all the while GW just looked like he was hanging out taking pictures and having fun.

But, not only did we get to see the video, all the pilots and tug pilots got a copy of the video last night. It really showed off what we do at a Floridaaerotow competition and we’ll be able to take it around and show it to our friends (if we have any outside of hang gliding).

Dave was a kick all week making announcements, telling jokes, getting pilots to come to the pilot meetings because they were so much fun. Belinda commented that we hadn’t seen Dave in his element in quite a while. While there were many many people who played keys roles in making the Flytec Championship such a great meet, I’ve got to feel that it was Dave Glover that really put it over the top and made it so much fun.

One of the key elements to its success (I feel), is that he was able to delegate responsibility to others, and in this case I’m referring to the task committee. I had written to him early on stating how giving the task committee the complete responsibility for calling the task was one of the keys to Tove’s great meets in Australia. David, like Tove, had the personality that allowed him to delegate responsibility and not get tied up into knots about it.

Chris Arai, Revo, and I had complete authority to choose the task each day, we took lots of pilot input and we did our best for the pilots to make the meet fair and fun. I can tell you that there was no barbeque task on the last day (although we did come back to Quest Air) as there has been in the past.

Having a task committee made up exclusively of pilots who without prodding from the meet director or organizer (well, we kept Dave away almost all of the time), is a key to having a meet (there are other ways to do it, but there are very very few individuals who can pull it off, and I can think of only one, Mad Dog, in Australia) that satisfies the pilots. This will continue to be a difficult issue and I hope that there will be a way to work this out at the upcoming worlds in Chelan.

Oh, yes, we did have a task on day seven. First, we heard from Gary Osoba:

Looks like a 7 day meet, thanks to the task planners, meet administrators, and reasonably good weather. Congratulations!

For a change, the entire soaring window today should provide for relatively consistent wind directions and strengths. Should make the planning a little bit easier. Here's how it stacks up:

11am Weak lift. Probably a bit early for clouds to be forming yet. When then do (likely closer tonoon), they should be around 2500'. Surface winds sse around 6. Winds aloft a little bit more southerly at 10-12.

2pm Good lift, strong in spots. Cb 5000' to 5300'. Surface winds sse 5-8, aloft sse 12-14.

5pm Moderate lift, good in spots. Cb could go to around 6000". Surface winds sse 8-10, aloft sse about 12.

"Only a fool would try to predict the weather"!

So we’ve got strong winds aloft out of the south, but good lift also. With the good lift we can come back against the strong winds, and that is exactly what we plan to do. We have really been counting on Gary’s forecasts, and he has done a great job for us. We really pick the tasks based on his weather predictions.

We call a 70 mile task (no barbeque task this one) that will first take us downwind 17 miles to the west, northwest to Bushnell, back against the head wind to Quest, south into the head wind to the intersection of highways 33 and 474, then north, downwind past Quest to Gator field, then 7 miles upwind for the final glide to goal.

The task keeps us near Quest, while at the same time making it difficult to complete. We come back over Quest to get everyone on the ground excited and it keeps us out of the swamp.

There are plenty of clouds when we start taking off, and it looks like maybe there are too many, maybe it will over develop after all. The wind seems awfully strong also, but it’s too late now to come up with an other task.

We hang around until the middle start time at 1:15although everyone is in the air in half an hour. We just stay at cloud base for an extra 15 minutes. GAP gives one very little reason to go out in front and leave the gaggle behind. Johann and I have already made up our minds that we will take the middle start time, and maybe everyone else felt that way also, or, when two pilots left, they all decided to go with us.

We can see all the darkness out to our northwest and it looks like we are jumping into a black hole. There are high cirrus clouds that dull the areas on the ground where the cu’s don’t block out the sun.

We spot the guys who took the 1 PMstart time and that makes it easier to make our way to the turnpoint through all this very gloomy looking area. Still we’re down below 1,400’ before we connect with the big lift that gets us to the turnpoint and back out again.

Well, that was a downwind task, but we averaged only 27 mph getting there, so the south wind didn’t help that much. Coming back will prove to be much more difficult (and most if not all of the pilots who don’t make it will drop out here), as the average speed will go down to 15 mph.

I’ll charge across some blue areas to get under what seems to be a cloud street, find nothing then push up wind to get under some pilots turning at 8 miles out from Quest, only to find myself at 450’ and working lift that averages 140 fpm, starting out at a much lower value. It turns out that every one will have difficulty making it back to Quest and will get low on this leg.

Christian Ciech and Alex Ploner are doing much better in this meet than the rest of us, and they have zoomed out ahead. They were half a mile ahead at the turnpoint, and I lost them coming back as I went more easterly, but they will also get quite low. They are flying together.

I’m flying with Johann, but I’ve lost him also. Given how weak the conditions are we are all struggling and it looks like a long day if we can stay up. I’ve got quite a few other gliders here with me, so we hang on and the lift improves, as we drift north away from Quest, but with stronger lift it is no problem. Twenty minutes after coming in low, I’m up to 4,000’ and on my way to Quest with Curt, Paris, Ron Gleason, and some other ATOSes.

We are styling now, hitting good lift and staying high as we come into Quest. We can see a gaggle forming to our south that includes the Swifts, so they must have struggled also. I can see Alex and Christian in the gaggle also.

Johann will lose it here and head off to the west to get under better looking clouds, while I’ll continue to the south to join up with the gaggle. Johann, who is in second place, will almost land at Quest.

I catch up with the lead gaggle, which is putzing along. I guess they don’t see any need to probe out into the blue to the south. All the clouds that we had by Bushnell have not come down here in the late afternoon, and there are mere wisps to our south.

With a bunch of rigid wings, Curt Warren, and above us all the two Italian rigid wing pilots, we start punching our way south only to find good lift, light sink in between, and long patches of buoyant air. We stay high and work light lift to get to 5,000’.

We are still running into the wind, so it takes a while, but we have no problems getting down to the south to get the turnpoint with Alex and Christian leading the way. The Swifts start to get ahead of us now, with Manfred taking the third turnpoint and coming back to greet us when we are 2 miles out from it.

As soon as we get the turnpoint, we can drift back north along 33 in strong tail winds and buoyant air. With the lift averaging less than 200 fpm in the cores, we are just taking a little bit here and there. After the long up wind grind it is a joy to drift toward the Gator turnpoint.

Now there are only rigid wings in the lead as we come into the Gator turnpoint and turn to get back to Quest. It’s been a long glide into Gator before our upwind final glide. My IQ/Comp has been acting up and not reporting any final glide info, so I’m just hanging with the four other rigid pilots. Heiner goes on glide and we all just speed up as it becomes clear that no matter that fact that we are going into a strong head wind, we will make it back to Quest without a problem.

Mike Barber who bombed out on the previous day (after passing up lots of lift trying to go faster) goes all out and will win in Class 1 as the flex wings will come in about 20 minutes behind Alex Ploner who takes first in the rigid wings. Then again he'll start fifteen minutes behind us, so you can see how much Alex and Christian were holding back, just tracking the rigids below them.

Class 5 on the last day:

1 Ploner, Alex, 65 Air Atos C Ita 13:15:00 16:20:00 03:05:00 953
2 Ciech, Christian, 47 Icaro Stratos Ita 13:15:00 16:20:11 03:05:11 935
3 Biesel, Heiner, 101 Air Atos Usa 13:15:00 16:28:30 03:13:30 848
4 Gleason, Ron, 300 Air Atos Usa 13:15:00 16:28:35 03:13:35 839
5 Endter, Vincent, 43 Air Atos Usa 13:15:00 16:28:36 03:13:36 832
6 Straub, Davis, 50 Air Atos C Usa 13:15:00 16:28:55 03:13:55 825
7 Zeiset, Jim, 66 Air Atos Usa 13:15:00 16:38:43 03:23:43 762
8 Barmakian, Bruce, 17 Air Atos Usa 13:00:00 16:34:50 03:34:50 741
9 Brandt, Dave, 60 Air Atos Usa 13:15:00 16:48:51 03:33:51 713
10 Posch, Johann, 112 Air Atos Aut 13:15:00 16:54:20 03:39:20 689
11 Campanella, Mario, 186 Flight Designs Ghostbuster Bra 13:15:00 16:54:52 03:39:52 685
12 Almond, Neville, 116 Flight Designs Ghostbuster Gbr 13:00:00 17:45:14 04:45:14 469

Class 5 finals:

1 Ciech, Christian, 47 Icaro Stratos Ita 5804
2 Posch, Johann, 112 Air Atos Aut 5354
3 Ploner, Alex, 65 Air Atos C Ita 5272
4 Straub, Davis, 50 Air Atos C Usa 4994
5 Gleason, Ron, 300 Air Atos Usa 4983

Class 1 last day:

1 Barber, Mike, 2 Moyes Litespeed Usa 13:30:00 16:41:15 03:11:15 915
2 Wirdnam, Gary , 39 Aeros Combat 2 Gbr 13:30:00 16:41:37 03:11:37 902
3 Bessa, Carlos, 155 Moyes Litespeed Bra 13:30:00 16:42:09 03:12:09 891
4 Warren, Curt, 73 Moyes Litespeed Usa 13:15:00 16:40:29 03:25:29 843
5 Zweckmayr, Josef, 18 Icaro Laminar Aut 13:00:00 16:33:16 03:33:16 841
6 Bondarchuk, Oleg, 107 Aeros Combat 2 13 Ukr 13:30:00 16:55:38 03:25:38 800
6 Agulhon, Dorival, 94 Icaro Mrx Bra 13:15:00 16:45:15 03:30:15 800
8 Harri, Martin, 31 Moyes Litespeed Che 13:30:00 16:55:41 03:25:41 797
9 Williams, Paris , 1 Icaro MR700WRE Usa 13:30:00 16:56:04 03:26:04 793
10 Bertok, Attila, 64 Moyes Litespeed Hun 13:30:00 16:56:08 03:26:08 790

Finals Class 1:

1 Bondarchuk, Oleg, 107 Aeros Combat 2 13 Ukr 5841
2 Williams, Paris , 1 Icaro MR700WRE Usa 5644
3 Volk, Glen, 5 Moyes Litespeed Usa 5584
4 Hamilton, Robin, 30 Icaro MR700WRE Gbr 5515
5 Warren, Curt, 73 Moyes Litespeed Usa 5440
6 Hazlett, Brett, 90 Moyes Litespeed Can 5437
7 Wirdnam, Gary , 39 Aeros Combat 2 Gbr 5434
8 Wolf, Andre, 117 Moyes Litespeed Bra 5389
9 Olsson, Andreas, 27 Moyes Litespeed Swe 5369
10 Rotor, Nene, 77 Wills Wing Talon Bra 5348

Preliminary results are up on the www.flytec.com web site.

Discuss "Flytec Championship – 70 mile fish bowl" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Flytec Championship – tighten up »

Fri, Apr 26 2002, 9:00:00 pm GMT

Aeros Combat|Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Belinda Boulter|Brett Hazlett|Bruce Barmakian|Bubba Goodman|Campbell Bowen|cart|Christian Ciech|Curt Warren|Davis Straub|Dennis Pagen|Florida|Flytec Championships 2002|Gary Wirdnam|Ghostbuster|Glen Volk|Greg Dinauer|Johann Posch|Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|Manfred Ruhmer|Mark Bolt|Mark Dowsett|Mitchell "Mitch" Shipley|Oleg Bondarchuk|Quest Air|Robin Hamilton|Ron Gleason|Steve Rewolinski|Tascha "Tish the Flying Fish" McLellan|Tyler Borradaile|Wallaby Ranch|Wills Wing|World Record Encampment

Finally we have an “interesting” task here in Florida. We’ve had so many races (at least while I was still in the air), and it’s just been climb and go, climb and go, final glide, finish. Today we had time to stop and smell the roses. Or was it the cow manure? Whatever it was it was really close by.

Not that it started off that way at all. With Garycalling for over development and rain possibly, we were concerned about whether we could get back to Quest without running into unsafe conditions. We have two proposed tasks, an 88-mile out and return, and a 68-mile run down to Avon Park airport to the southeast that should get us away from any over development.

We move all the start times up to 1, 1:15and 1:30to get everyone going before the chances of OD get too high. The windcast shows the convergence zone (where you would expect the OD) right down the middle of the state (north or south). The BLIP forecast shows the highest CAPEindex to our north, so if we run south we’ll have the best chance of avoiding the OD.

The winds are light (as they would be in the convergence area), so it is even difficult to tell which runway to launch from, but then does it really matter? We are expecting good lift and a cloud base at 4,600’.

After blowing the second day, I’m down in the pack so I do have to run my glider out to the staging area. This time at least I have a cart. Bubba Goodman and I have a sprint first across the runway to get a cart (but it is all in fun as we know there are two carts). Great exercise before the actual competition.

The task committee is meeting on the flight line to decide which task to choose. If there is no sign of over development at 12, then we will choose the out and return task. There are only a few small cu’s around at noonso we say, let’s come back.

Fortunately no competitors launch for the next fifteen minutes, and in that time a number of cu-nimbs form out over highway 27 to our east. We quickly reconvene the task committee and change the task to a straight run to AvonPark.

By 12:30the cu’s are thick around us and over us with lots of vertical development. I’m wishing that we didn’t push the start clock back 15 minutes, as it would be great to leave at 1 PMinstead of the 1:15 PMfirst start time. Heck, it would be great to leave at 12:45, as it took but a couple of minutes under a black bottomed cu’s to get right up to cloud base at 4,000’ right over Quest Air.

The tugs are pulling pilots out of the air park at an astounding rate. It seems like everyone is in the air in way less than 30 minutes. Yesterday they were launching folks at a rate of one every 15 seconds. The pilots are being especially helpful by being ready to go when they get in the launch line.

A plane is landing or taking off every 8 seconds (not including the hang gliders) whenever there is a launch line, so this makes the Sheets airport the busiest airport in the world for about half an hour. Same can be said of the Wallaby Ranch during the Wallaby Open.

Many parks have provided multiple tugs for the event and there are more Dragonflies assembled at the Flytec Championship than have ever been in one place at the same time (pictures later). Wallaby has provided two tugs, for which everyone is quite grateful, and two highly skilled (and experienced) pilots. It’s great to have tug pilots who’ve been at this a long time.

With the task decided at the last minute it is a big scramble on the ground and in the air, but everyone is taking it in stride. We on the task committee are just trying to do our best for the pilots, and apparently they are really appreciative. We hear nothing but praise from everyone.

Johann and I have agreed to take the first start time no matter what. I’m not high at the time, but I don’t care. I leave anyway and head out toward the gaggle of flex wings at the 5 mile point. A few miles beyond that Johann and I hook up with the first gaggle of flex wings on the course. These guys have taken the first start time also, and they found something good over highway 33.

Johann is much higher than I and there are plenty of flex wings over my head as we climb up but only to 3,400’, 800’ below cloud base, when the thermal stops and we all spread out. I keep leaving low as I want to get as far away as possible from the guys who are going to take the next start time. I don’t want them to see our thermals.

Getting out in front is a tough assignment because you’ve got to find the thermals and race without knowing what is in front of you. Much easier to follow. We go early because we think that maybe the over development will shut down the guys behind.

We’re with a dozen flex wings and we are all spread out moving quickly down 33, finding bits of lift, climbing for a minute or two then moving quickly on to keep up with the guys in front. Everyone is helping everyone else as we search in front here. We need all the noses we can get if we want to go fast.

We aren’t finding much when a glider in front of me and to my right runs into good lift just south of 474. This baby is 700 fpm to cloud base and 4,700’. I get on top with Brett Hazlett and a few other of the fast flex wing boys and so I’m now the lead guy.

My leading sucks, and I have to go east and west to finally find an average 150 fpm at 1,600’ just northeast of PolkCity. Oh the shame of it all. Thankfully we do get up enough to be able to join another small gaggle to our southeast over Old Grade Roadjust north of I4. This thermal is quite a bit better averaging 350 fpm to almost 4,000’.

We are entering the go fast part of the race, although other than slow climbs we haven’t exactly been dawdling. I’m kind of surprised at the direction that the guys, including Johann, who are now out in front are taking, more south-southwest toward the east side of Winter Haven. The notoriously weak area around the Winter Havenairport is coming up, but the clouds are saying come along.

I get great climb rates of between 450 fpm average to 550 fpm average in a couple of the thermals, climbing to over 5,000’. There are flex wings every where and one rigid catches us for a moment before we leave him behind. Johann and I are running scared thinking that Alex Ploner and Christian Ciech are just behind us.

As we get southeast of Winter Haven taking care to be out of the airspace from the Bartow airport way off to our southwest, we can see the high top of a cu-nimb to our southeast and right on the course line. It’s well shadowed underneath and looks like there may be some virga around it.

I have gone into the lead again as I cut the corner and ignored some lift. It is always good to just bypass the gaggle when you are high and there looks to be lift ahead. I’m thinking that there may be too much lift ahead. I’m happy that there are a couple of flex wings near me way below that are diving toward the cloud also. I hoping that they are not as nervous as me.

I’ve put my hang point on ATOS ¼” more forward. Maybe it is the air, and maybe it is the hang point, but the glider seems to be having a much better time of it. It’s not bucking around quite so much and I’m enjoying the Floridaair.

While I stay on the right sunny side of the cloud, some pilots go right underneath it. Doesn’t seem to be a problem, but I do notice that we get a bit of rain. I want to put this cloud behind me and get to the next ones.

As we get a couple of miles south of Lake Wales, and a mile west of highway 27, Curt Warren, Johann and I head for a cloud a little bit to our right that seems to be working. We’re spread out and make a thorough search of the area, but we can’t find anything like what we’ve had until now. I’ll drop from 2,500’ to 550’ AGL as all three of us go round and round trying to find the lift.

Johann and I are in radio communication so he brings me back one more time to get under Curt and him just next to a small lake. I’m way low and way below them, but we climb up enough and when Curt goes over to the east and finds a better core, they climb to 3,000’, while I’ll get up to 2,500’. We’re alive.

Johann and a bunch of gliders are out in front now on a long glide. I’m going carefully and slowly as possible. There are no clouds nearby, as the rain cloud has wiped when all out. The air is very smooth and I hear this also from Johann ahead of me.

Alex Ploner gets on the radio and says that he and Christian Ciech have landed 7 miles from goal in Frostproof. They took the start time 15 minutes after us and raced through the gaggles to get past us as we groveled on the deck. Now they are on the ground and we are almost on the ground.

At 12.5 miles out from goal I tell Belinda that I am at 1,000’ and will probably land at 10 miles from goal. I’m checking out just how far I can glide over the trees to get to a landable field.

Then Johann gets on the radio and says that they have lift at 10 miles out. I’m gliding toward him and wondering which fields I can land in. At 450’ I come in over a tractor working in some burnt off area a mile short of Johann’s thermal. There’s a beep on the vario and I start searching it out.

There are plenty of gliders around, all above me, and numerous gliders with Johann, so there is plenty of encouragement to stay up in whatever is available. There are no clouds, and the landing fields are scarce. Time to hang in there and be patient as the day is much different now that the first two place guys are on the ground.

I work this thermal to 2,900’ and actually leave it too early. Numerous gliders above me have gone out in front and are way ahead so that we can’t see them. I go to where the flex wings are working the lift that Johann has left, but just get zero for 3 minutes at 2,500’. Finally I’ve had enough of this head out now in the lead of the fifteen or so pilots in the neighborhood.

At 7 miles out from goal and at 1,700’ I know that I’ve got to find something, anything to make it in. I feel the barest hint of some lift nearby and start turning looking for anything. There are plenty of orange groves below and I prefer them as thermal generators to green pastures.

For four minutes I don’t gain any altitude, but I also don’t lose any. Then things get a bit better as the little gaggle joins me. This thermal will average 175 fpm and take me to 3,100’. Glen Volk will be just above me the whole time.

It stops at 3,100’ and although I wanted to go to 3,500’ before I went on final glide, I’ll take what I can get. There is a large patch of trees and houses before the airport, so I’m worried about the final glide in addition to the distance.

The air is completely smooth, and my sink rate averages only 200 fpm. I try to keep the air speed at about 32 mph, for best L/D but I seem to have averaged 37 mph over the ground. I don’t think that there was any wind. 3,500’ would have given me goal at 10:1. I’m hoping for 15:1 and I’ll get 16:1.

Glen will comment later how much better I’m gliding at these lower speeds than him as he sees me rise up above him as we cross over the unlandable areas. In the last field before the houses and trees I spot three flex wings. Then at the very end of the field, washed up as though by the sea, I will spot a dozen gliders and three rigids. I’m sure that they are cursing me as I fly over their heads at about 1,400’ two and half miles from goal.

I spot the goal and one glider. It seems to be the Swift, but in fact it is Johann. The Swifts have been moved to a spot near the hangars. Johann will be the first hang glider into goal, I’ll be second, quite a few minutes behind him. Glen Volk will be the first flex wing into goal.

All the top five pilots in each class (other than Johann) will not make goal. This means that the scores will be quite tight for the final day. Anyone could win the meet (and probably will).

Class 5 today:

1 Posch, Johann, 112 Air Atos Aut 13:15:00 16:08:06 02:53:06 994
2 Straub, Davis, 50 Air Atos C Usa 13:15:00 16:35:04 03:20:04 803
3 Dinauer, Greg, 32 Air Atos Usa 13:30:00 16:45:17 03:15:17 786
4 Biesel, Heiner, 101 Air Atos Usa 13:45:00 16:58:26 03:13:26 764
5 Ferris, George, 59 Air Atos Usa 13:30:00 16:53:53 03:23:53 744
6 Almond, Neville, 116 Flight Designs Ghostbuster Gbr 13:15:00 17:09:54 03:54:54 645
7 Campanella, Mario, 186 Flight Designs Ghostbuster Bra 13:30:00 17:39:03 04:09:03 591

Class 5 cumulative (going into the last day):

1 Ciech, Christian, 47 Icaro Stratos Ita 4758
2 Posch, Johann, 112 Air Atos Aut 4693
3 Straub, Davis, 50 Air Atos C Usa 4240
4 Gleason, Ron, 300 Air Atos Usa 4200
5 Campanella, Mario, 186 Flight Designs Gb Bra 4170
6 Ploner, Alex, 65 Air Atos C Ita 4141
7 Barmakian, Bruce, 17 Air Atos Usa 3978
8 Biesel, Heiner, 101 Air Atos Usa 3936
9 Hollidge, Andy, 26 La Mouette Top Secret Gbr 3727
10 Bowen, Campbell, 49 Flight Designs Axxess + Usa 3287

Class 1 today:

1 Volk, Glen, 5 Moyes Litespeed Usa 13:30:00 16:36:43 03:06:43 970
2 Dowsett, Mark, 29 Moyes Litespeed Can 13:30:00 16:44:06 03:14:06 904
3 Bolt, Mark, 143 Aeros Stealth Usa 13:30:00 16:44:17 03:14:17 899
4 Mclellan, Tish, 11 Moyes Litespeed Aus 13:30:00 16:45:23 03:15:23 886
4 Sauer, Richard, 7 Icaro MR700WRE Usa 13:15:00 16:43:01 03:28:01 886
6 Shipley, Mitchell, 99 Aeros Combat 2 Usa 13:15:00 16:43:40 03:28:40 878
7 Bajewski, Joerg, 34 Aeros Combat Deu 13:15:00 16:45:05 03:30:05 860
8 Borradaile, Tyler , 109 Aeros Combat 2 Can 13:15:00 16:45:13 03:30:13 857
9 Pagen, Dennis, 51 Moyes Litespeed Usa 13:30:00 16:59:20 03:29:20 837
10 Agulhon, Dorival, 94 Icaro Mrx Bra 13:15:00 17:04:19 03:49:19 796
11 Grzyb, Krzysztof, 35 Icaro MR700 Pol 13:15:00 17:08:39 03:53:39 784
12 Rewolinski, Steve, 96 Icaro MRX2001 Usa 13:45:00 17:40:43 03:55:43 759
13 Woodruff, Jon, 28 Airborne Climax Usa 13:15:00 17:22:34 04:07:34 749

Cumulative Class 1:

1 Bondarchuk, Oleg, 107 Aeros Combat 2 13 Ukr 5049
2 Williams, Paris , 1 Icaro MR700WRE Usa 4860
3 Volk, Glen, 5 Moyes Litespeed Usa 4804
4 Hamilton, Robin, 30 Icaro MR700WRE Gbr 4752
5 Hazlett, Brett, 90 Moyes Litespeed Can 4665
6 Wolf, Andre, 117 Moyes Litespeed Bra 4611
7 Warren, Curt, 73 Moyes Litespeed Usa 4602
8 Olsson, Andreas, 27 Moyes Litespeed Swe 4594
9 Rotor, Nene, 77 Wills Wing Talon Bra 4574
10 Wirdnam, Gary , 39 Aeros Combat 2 Gbr 4538

Robin Hamilton is flying Manfred’s glider. He says that he didn’t know that Oleg had landed. If he had, he would have stayed one more minute in the last thermal and made goal.

Preliminary results are up on the www.flytec.com web site.

Discuss "Flytec Championship – tighten up" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Stalker 2 »

Fri, Apr 5 2002, 6:00:02 pm EST

carbon fiber|Ghostbuster

www.justfly.com

As long as I was flying the second version of the Falcon, I thought that I would also check out the Aeros Stalker 2. This is quite an upgrade of the Stalker with the addition of large highly canted winglets to significantly increase the Stalker’s span, and a very refined all carbon fiber control frame.

I had only a short opportunity to fly the Aeros Stalker 2 this evening after flying the Falcon 2 to check out the air. I didn’t just want to jump on the Stalker 2 (my first rigid wing flight since Australia) without knowing what the air was up too. Once I found that the winds weren’t too string and the thermals had died down, I was ready to try the Stalker 2.

Previously when I flew the Stalker I had a lot of trouble controlling it. With lots of hours on flex wings recently I figured that that would be less of a problem with time. I remembered that it towed well, and yes this time it towed as straight as one could ask for in the light conditions (well there were bumps at tree level because the wind was still blowing).

The Stalker 2 towed better than I had remembered was the case with the Stalker, and as good as the ATOS, Ghostbuster or Exxtacy. It was easy to go one handed. Also, of course, it was quite a bit quicker than the Falcon 2 with a lot less bar pressure. Overall towing with it was a pleasure.

I find the smallest bit of lift at 2,000’ over the Ranch and started circling. I was going pretty fast and wondered if I had a too far forward hang point position. I wanted to slow down, but took my time doing that as I didn’t know anything about the Stalker’s stall characteristics.

Lots of folks were watching and were impressed that I could stay up so well. Steve Arndt was still around flying in his Magic Dragon and came in under me, although I was just hanging out in zero lift. I was able to stay over him for a good while, something not possible in the 170 Falcon 2.

I was really enjoying the flight, barely moving the bar to get it to turn. I was able to be in charge of the glider right away unlike the last two times I had flown a Stalker, and that impressed me. I made sure that I made only very small movements.

The Stalker 2 is much easer to turn than other rigid wings, and very close to if not easier than the Falcon. Easier than the LightSport. There is a bit of adverse yaw, but once I noticed it I just realized that I had to wait a bit and the glider would turn in the correct direction.

You would think that the wing tips would slow down the roll rate, and maybe they do, but not so that it would be a problem. I didn’t get the Stalker 2 up on the wing tip, that will come later as I get more comfortable with it and get a chance to wring it out a bit.

I was concerned about the landing, as I had only been landing LightSports, Falcons, and Superfloaters lately. I wondered if I would be coming in a lot faster (and not have any wheels). I sure didn’t want to wreck that nice control frame that seemed designed for speed but not for impact.

I pulled the flaps on close to full to allow me to fly slow close to the ground. There seems to be a lot of resistance to pulling down the flaps, but I could do it. I will have to look at that more and see if I haven’t done something wrong in the setup. The flaps are relatively small so I didn’t expect much in ground speed reduction from them.

I pulled the control bar in to get good speed, but not over speed as I wasn’t sure that I would PIO the glider. I brought it right down to the deck with my feet dragging as I slowly let out the bar. The glider kept flying and slowing down and I wasn’t sure just when it would get too slow and go over instead of allowing me to flare.

Finally I decided to flare and bang, the wing just stopped in its tracks with out much of an effort on my part. I did a regular flare and it stopped right them. People on the ground were impressed as I did a no stepper in light winds.

Everyone was impressed and excited about this new version of the Stalker. Lots of folks around here want to fly it, so I’ll be able to garner lots of impressions. I’ll report as fully as I can.

I’ll have an opportunity to fly this glider during the next few days at least, so that I can give a fuller report. Of course, what every one is really interested in is its performance compared with the current leader – the ATOS. I hope to be able to report on that soon.

The Axxess+

Sun, Mar 24 2002, 2:00:03 pm EST

Brad Gryder|Ghostbuster|Wills Wing

Actually it’s the Ghostbuster plus. Brad Gryder received the first Axxess+ in the USand low and behold he got his first flight on it Saturday evening. On his second flight he stayed up for over an hour in what looked like the lightest lift, but according to him was quite well organized. He wasn’t dressed for it.

The Axxess+ looks quite nice with a number of clean ups. The big plastic tips of the Ghostbuster are gone, and the sail is consequently cleaner at the tips. There is a Wills Wing control frame with Slipstream airfoil aluminum down tubes, and a thin straight aluminum airfoil base tube with trip line. Brad said it was sized right for his hands.

The ribs have been changed to folding ribs that pull together with a cord and lock in place. They look very functional, say as compared to the weaker ones that I remember on the Millennium. This will improve the setup time and convenience.

Brad characterized the Axxess+ as a cleaned up Ghostbuster and I have to agree with him. Everything else looked the same, quite nice. He said that he noticed that it had a better glide than the Ghostbuster.

Everyone stood around and admired the new rigid wing. I noticed on picking it up that it seemed to be quite a bit more tail heavy (from the rotation point of my shoulders on the downtubes) than the ATOS. What I mean by this is that I rotated the glider up by the downtubes while leaving it balanced on the end of the stinger (keel). I then rotated that glider to level and noticed that it was quite a bit more work to rotate the Axxess+ than I was use to with the ATOS.

Brad said that there was more sweep, but it sure didn’t look that way to me. It balanced fine after I rotated it up to level. I wonder what the difference is. I’ll have to look more into this when I can get both gliders side by side.

It looks like there is more weight at the tips of the Axxess+ compared to the tapered ATOS, so maybe that explains the difference I was feeling. Then, of course, it could all be in the placement of the apex and the rake of the downtubes.

Angus Pinkerton on DHV tests and tucks

Thu, Mar 14 2002, 5:00:04 pm GMT

Angus Pinkerton|Ghostbuster

Angus Pinkerton «angus.pinkerton» writes:

I did not make several points clear enough in my last post and this seems to have allowed an interpretation that because the ATOS-C only failed the DHV test at 40km/hr andDavis was flying faster than this, that the two were clearly unrelated ("doesn't tell us much about why the ATOS tucked").

There is little doubt that tucking and tumbling behaviour is primarily dependent on three things:-

1. C of G position

2. Pitching Moment Characteristic

3. Pitch Damping

When we consider the differences between Rigid- and Flex-wing hang gliders, there are no significant differences in C of G positions (despite rumours to the contrary). There are some detailed differences in pitch moment characteristics, and a fairly significant difference in pitch damping (typical rigid wings have less pitch damping, as do high performance flex wings compared to gliders with more sail area further away from the centre of gravity).

(editor’s note: We recently put those rumors to rest with a measurement of the ATOS CG as reported earlier.)

The DHV's test requirements are on their web site (as quoted by Angelo) but they have told me recently that they have modified their test requirements slightly, and no longer use the "constantly increasing pitching moment" criteria. They use the minimum pitch moments given in the table quoted by Angelo (together with the requirement that there should be no negative moments between the trim angle of attack and -15 degrees).

(Incidentally, angles here are all measured relative to that angle of attack that gives zero net lift from the wing.)

The DHV test is thus basically passed on the basis of a single point on the pitch curve being above the set minimum values at the four airspeeds tested. The HGMA and BHPA independently share a somewhat different approach.

We have both defined what we describe as "exclusion boxes", which are areas on the graph of pitching moment versus angle of attack that the tested glider's measured pitch moment curve must not enter. The areas lie between small positive angles of attack and -15 degrees (as with the DHV), but the shape and values of the "exclusion boxes" are dependent on the airspeed (and are not identical to each other). This is the reason that I said before that it was difficult to compare exactly the DHV, HGMA and BHPA tests. However the DHV have previously estimated that at 40km/hr their test requirement probably represents between 10% and 20% less restoring pitch moment than the HGMA standard, but that they are closer at higher speeds.

These three standards were all largely developed on a pragmatic basis, based on experience of testing gliders that worked (by staying the right way up most of the time) and ones that didn't. All are based on flex wings and have not been changed recently, although glider designs have been evolving towards lower drag, lower area, somewhat higher aspect ratio and less sweep, and lower pitch damping.

Unless a glider has a very unusually straight pitch "curve", flight tests (that are necessarily carried out at around +15 degrees and above, because at angles of attack less than this you aren't flying!) tell you little about the pitch characteristics at the zero lift angle, and even less about what happens at negative angles of attack.

(editor’s note: Earlier I went asking around to try to get an idea of what angle of attack we were flying hang gliders at when we were flying at best L/D speed and at high speed – say fifty mph. I got an answer of around 5 degrees. Now Angus says 15 degrees or more. Perhaps we aren’t differentiating between angle of attack above the zero lift angle of attack and angle of attack with respect to the relative wind only)

When testing flex wings with trailing edge luff lines (and most topless flex wings with internal "sprogs") it has proved extremely difficult to design a glider that passes any one of the standards that doesn't also pass the other two when tested. Almost no (certified) flex wing gliders get even close to the limit lines, as the tolerances of testing and manufacturing mean that significant margins need to be built in.

This is not necessarily true of rigid wing gliders, where control of the aerofoil section and washout is easier, and designers can (and do) make them closer to the lines.

Going back to the ATOS-C, here we have a glider with less pitch damping than a typical flex wing. To achieve the same tuck resistance, it is likely therefore that either greater pitching moments will be required, or some additional pitch damping added, or both. In the case of your glider at the time of the accident it seems that neither of these were true. Indeed it is likely that rather than more restoring pitch moment than a flex wing, this glider had significantly less (especially at low speeds).

Nothing I have written should be taken as a criticism of the DHV or their testing. They have spent more time and effort on this topic than anyone else, including the tumbling glider drop tests that have been mentioned before. In this area, all of us are guessing (including glider designers), but I am sure that some of our guesses are better than others.

It is still the case that, during theUK's fifteen year history of certification testing and detailed accident investigation, those gliders that pass certification tests (and are maintained in that state) do not tuck or tumble. Every tuck or tumble incident that has been reported to us has involved either an uncertified glider or a glider outside of certification specification.

(editor’s note: This last paragraph should be emphasized. I wonder if Kevin Dutt’s Ghostbuster was within its certification specification – seems that it wqs. I wonder if Christof’s Atos was within the certification specification – I have heard that it wasn’t.)

Discuss "Angus Pinkerton on DHV tests and tucks" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

500 probes (Luft Balloons?)

Wed, Feb 13 2002, 12:00:03 am GMT

Exxtacy|Ghostbuster|Millennium|Steven "Steve" Pearson

Steve Pearson mentions that it takes about 500 gliders to be produced, sold and out there flying until we really have any idea of how they will do with respect to tucking, etc. Well, let’s take a very preliminary stab at seeing how things are going.

Topless flex wings:

> 500 units

spins: seem to be as difficult to spin as previous flex wings

tucks/tumbles: a small number of tucks, less than advanced king posted hang gliders, at least one death.

Millenniums:

50 units

spins : very easy to spin, almost all have spun, some into the ground with injuries and one death

tucks/tumbles: no tucks or tumbles know to me.

Swifts:

Small number of units

spins: a small number of spins into the ground with injuries

tucks/tumbles: no known to me.

E7/Esc:

< 50

spins: easy to spin, although less so than the Millennium

tucks/tumbles: no known to me

Exxtacy:

400-500 units

spins: difficult to spin because of the forward placement of the control bar although has been done intentionally (similar to flex wings), very violent spin when entered.

Tucks/tumbles: no known to me.

Ghostbuster:

< 100

spins: a few. Easy to spin if hang point put way at the back and heavy pilot. New wires place control bar forward like Exxtacy to prevent spins.

Tucks/tumbles: a few with the leading edges destroyed in tuck and tumbles

ATOS/ATOS-C

400-500

spins: spins when pilot places hang point at the back of the range and flies slowly, otherwise difficult to spin. A few pilots have spun into the ground, a couple of deaths

tucks/tumbles: a few with the leading edges destroyed.

Top Secret

< 50

Spins: spins easily, at least one into the ground with one death

Tucks/tumbles: none known to me.

Any corrections or updates to this very preliminary chart are appreciated.

Discuss "500 probes (Luft Balloons?)" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Tuck issues

Wed, Feb 13 2002, 12:00:02 am GMT

Gary Valle|Mike Meier|Steve Elkins|Steven "Steve" Pearson|Tom Price|USHGA BOD

I had an opportunity to speak with Steve Pearson the designer at Wills Wing at the recent USHGA BOD meeting. I've had a number of opportunities to speak with Steve over the last few years and I always find my time well spent and I come away enlightened about a particular issue.

Steve pointed out that a great deal of relatively sophisticated analysis of hang glider and flying wing stability was done as much as 25 or more years ago, and that this analysis is applicable to any current concerns about tucking or tumbling, and should serve as a starting point in any attempt to develop theories about our current problems in this area. In particular we should review articles by Gary Valle, Tom Price, Hewitt Phillips, R.T.Jones who have contributed immensely to our understanding of this phenomenon.

Steve said that in the past Mike Meier had conducted a survey of hang glider tucks and tumbles in an effort to determine if there were common design or test result factors that could explain them and help hang glider designers overcome the problems. Within the class of high performance gliders, the data did not seem to indicate any correlation between design factors or test results and tumble frequency, and thus didn't provide much guidance to designers.

Recently it seems that a change may have occurred. Second generation and later topless flex wings seem, in recent years, to have a better record with respect to tucks and tumbles than the previous generations of advanced king posted hang gliders. It's difficult to quantify this, because in the history of the sport there have been periods of time when tumbles have been more or less frequent, without any obvious changes in design.

Steve wasn't confident that he had a good explanation for the apparent recent improvement in the record of topless gliders. On the other hand, he thought that the improved safety record might be related to a maintenance issue with king posted gliders and reflex lines.

Both Wills Wing and Bautec had earlier found that when the trailing edges of the sails shrink as they do over time, the reflex lines get loose and don't provide for reflex for dive recovery. When they tested older HP gliders their pitch stability was terrible.

There is both a report and a service bulletin posted on the Wills Wing web site http://www.willswing.com/launch.asp?theCategory=support&link=frmSupportPage.asp 'Reflex Bridle Adjustment and Maintaining Pitch Stability' It might be the case that the topless glider is more likely to stay within its design specifications because the reflex provided by the sprogs doesn't change as the sail shrinks. The same design factor is inherent in the design of rigid wing hang gliders.

One king posted glider for which Wills Wing has no record of any tucks or tumbles is the WW Falcon. Pilots generally think of this class of low aspect ratio glider as not being subject to tumbling, however, in the mid seventies tumbling was a serious problem on a wide range of gliders with very similar aspect ratios. What is interesting, however, is that the Falcon has relatively weak stability on the test vehicle at high speeds in comparison to either a topless flex wing or, presumably, a rigid wing (though it has similar, and perhaps better stability at low speeds).

Based on the safety record of the Falcon, Steve thinks that it's probably reasonable to conclude that other factors like pitch damping and stall behavior may be as important as pitching moment to overall glider stability. He said that vehicle and flight tests of a tail attached to a flex wing glider at Wills Wing indicated that it did not necessarily represent an easy way to improve the pitch stability of a flex wing without incurring other compromises. He felt that these test results would not necessarily be applicable to rigid wing hang gliders with their higher aspect ratios and consequentially lower downwash near the root.

He felt that tails that were attached right to the keel would be less effective, as they would be in the downwash, compared to tails that were T-tails and raised up above the keel and further away from the downwash. Steve said that the increased pitching damping contribution from the tail may be equally as important as the increased stability coefficients, i.e. slowing the rate of rotation.

He also stated that theory and speculation are not adequate to predict with confidence the statistical incidence of pitch-overs and tucks of a given model. (For example, compare the safety record of the Exxtacy to the Atos). He also pointed out that it is known that many flex wing gliders are considerably stronger than they need to be at a minimum to pass HGMA and DHV certification and that the carbon fiber cross tubes/spars on topless flex wing gliders appear to be much more durable and damage resistant than the carbon fiber d-cells that are found on rigid wings. (BTW, WW static tests each of their carbon fiber spars. 1 in 100 fails with no obvious flaw.)

Rigid wings, both because they are more rigid and because they are capable of accelerating very quickly to very high speeds, may offer a reduced structural margin in extreme circumstances. Steve pointed out the HGMA uses a 150° load test (basically you attach the glider to the truck with its back into the wind and tail down 30° and run it up to 32 mph). The DHV doesn't use this test.

The test is designed to simulate the loading that would be experienced after 180° of pitch down rotation during a tumble, which has been the more common issue of concern, at least with the HGMA, over the last 25 years. (The test does not simulate the loading in a tuck, which typically happens at a much higher speed). Since none of the rigid wings certified so far have been certified to he HGMA standards, it's not clear how they would perform in this test.

Finally, he stated that it is likely that any hang glider would be destroyed in an accelerated, high speed tuck, one like mine. He felt that at very high speed, the wings could fail without significant negative loading from torsion and drag loads alone. He felt that it was unlikely that my glider actually experienced a significant negative load during the event, because I had reported that the glider apparently failed before I hit the keel.

Without the mass of the pilot "attached" to the center of the glider, any positive or negative aerodynamic loads would be expected to be distributed over the structure relatively evenly, in such a way that it is unlikely there would be a high enough load to cause a failure.

Steve Pearson wasn’t the only one who was thinking about tucks. Steve Elkins writes:

In my 12 years of being involved with the pitch testing of hang gliders, neither I nor anyone else involved in UK pitch testing has ever seen, or heard, of a hang glider with suspect pitch stability (i.e. one that has tumbled or otherwise given rise to stability concerns) that has subsequently passed the pitch test.

Of course, given Felix’s tests at DHV of the ATOS-C, it looks like this is a first for Steve. He also writes:

However if you are flying a glider with a C of A that is within spec, there's no evidence that you need to rush out and fit a tailplane.

Seems like a lot of things are up in the air.

Another writer sends this in:

I have no axe to grind about tailplanes, but have always been aware that as we fly gliders with higher aspect ratio, hence narrower chord for a given area, we must be more prone to tucking and tumbling (I am an engineer, but not a hang glider or sailplane designer or anything like it, so its slightly more than just a gut feel)) and we put our trust in the designers of our aircraft and the test procedures for making sure that they are safe.

To be a bit more technical, again Martin Jursa, "The essential parameter determining the tumbling ability is the ratio between mean chord/Center of Gravity depth, the smaller this ratio …the easier the glider will go upside down.” It’s obvious from this that for a given wing area a glider with an aspect ratio of 12 to 1 will have about a 20% disadvantage over one with a 7.6 to 1 for the same Center of Gravity distance.

Moving on to the C of G issue, we need to explain what needs to happen when the glider's AoA suddenly becomes negative. The gist of it is that the addition of the pilots weight moves the gliders C of G downwards, this improves the stability of the glider from the test rig certification values at positive angles of attack, but worsens it at negative angles of attack particularly in the -5 to -10 ° area.

The more forward the pilot can move his weight under these conditions the smaller the adverse effect becomes until, if sufficiently far forward,the glider won't tuck or tumble. Hence the importance of being able to hold onto the bar and getting into the safety position. On stable gliders it is only necessary to pull in a little to achieve this, on more marginal machines pull in more!, but to do this you must keep hold of the bar and so on.

What I can see coming out as a result of your incident and the statement by AIR that the glider was within "DHV as tested specification", which is what I construe them publishing the inspectors report is meant to imply, is that the testing criteria used by our sport to regulate the safety of our gliders is suspect. It may be adequate for tailless gliders of a certain configuration (what are the limits) but those that fall outside this probably require extra study.

Bjørnar Ryeng <bjornar@intime.no> writes:

Also gliders (sailplanes) can definitely go inverted in strong turbulent air. I was almost inverted in an old K8 when I was relatively new to the gliding and going for some waves in strong headwind (ehh… Relatively strong - I was flying a K8). The glider recovered through a "half loop" from some 20° past vertical. If it had continued I would have pushed carefully and rolled it back from inverted instead. Except from a lot of sand and shit in my eyes and hair I was fine.

Discuss "Tuck issues" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Rigids vs. Flexxies

Thu, Jan 17 2002, 11:00:02 am EST

Ghostbuster|Marcus Hoffmann

Marcus Hoffmann-Guben «Dorothee.Andries» writes:

I just read the German League performance analysis by Hansjörg in the Oz Report. His results are the same as those, which I have already obtained by my own reflections. As the main actor in the German rigid class I'm allowed to say, "It is of course like Hansjörg has said, that I'm not more skilled than Bob Baier!" The reason for my "advantage" against the flex wings in the German League obviously was the high performance of my Ghostbuster and, during the German Open, of my Axxess +. It would be naive to claim something else.

Ghostbuster⁣ parts for sale »

Sat, Jan 5 2002, 2:30:03 am EST

Ghostbuster|Robert Lowe

Robert Lowe «SKYOUT1» writes:

I rolled my Cherokee off a 10,000 ft. pass due to ELK on the road. My GB was on top, and thusly broken clean in half. I have every part except the leading edges For Sale.

I was trapped in the car upside down for an hour in the dark, and had to spend the night in my sleeping bag. Everything in the car had either hit me like i was in a blender, or ended up on top of me. Who cares about the Cherokee, they made millions of them, the GB was a real loss. Fortunately, I had good insurance, and a have a new GB.

Discuss "Ghostbuster⁣ parts for sale" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Harness design ideas

Sat, Nov 24 2001, 12:00:07 pm GMT

harness|Mark Clark|Mark Lambie|Martyn Spriggs

Martyn Spriggs, <newsa@iafrica.com> writes:

Further to the letters about the 'Pod People'. All images taken from http://www.vimservices.com/

Mark Clark <mcclark@att.net> writes:

It seems to me that we could all learn allot from watching the Olympics. Look closely at every sport that is a timed speed event, were fractions of seconds count. Two good examples are Down Hill Speed Skiing (80 mph +) and Speed Skating. Both keep: frontal area low as possible Speed Skating - head down, flat with the back with one arm resting on the back out of the wind. Down Hill - head down, arm/elbows tucked in tight tight fitting/smooth cloths with thumbholes at end of arm sleeves.

I conclude from everything that I have seen that having your body in a comfortable position and achieving the best aerodynamic body position is not possible. But it is nice to dream about.

Maybe Davis has the answer. Davis has flown a HG for 10 hours and feels fine. I fly for 4 hours and my back and hips hurt. The harness has a lot to do with how comfortable you are flying in that aerodynamic head down position. To continue flying Hang Gliders as we have for the past 25 years will mean staying out in the open air holding onto a control bar, but I think that we can tune it up a lot.

We could: Find a way to control our gliders with one arm during those long glides between thermals. (Gliders with control services are needed for this I think and I just got my Stalker. I will be working on this idea over the next year.) This would allow us to put one arm out of the air flow. (Probably, one arm is the maker of more drag than our entire control frame!) This hand would rest in a spandex pocket near our hip for support. Our other arm would be centered on the bass bar with our head pulled as close as possible to it.

I think that we would need a bar attached to our base bar that looks like the bars that bicycle racers use. This would give us something to put our elbow onto/into for better one arm torque control. In this position, a Jack Lambie teardrop shaped helmet that rests on the back of our flat harness eliminating some of our head drag and almost completes the package.

Of course the harness should be perfectly smooth, parachute under one arm out of the wind, tight cloths over the shoulders and arms with the harness ending at a point. In addition, all our instruments could be hidden within the glider, harness or helmet, with a heads-up display on a viewing screen in front of our eyes and speaker next to the ear - the benefit of this is no instrument drag.

Now I think we are getting very clean and still out in the air and Hang Gliding like the good old days. As you can see, I am willing to make some sacrifices to improve my performance. However, I do not want to completely change the basics. For me, the basics are: running off into the air prone like superman not seated like the swift and not completely enclosed landing on my feet Can I have one through three and get 20 to 1?

Discuss "Harness design ideas" at the Oz Report forum   link»

GB d-cell mods

Tue, Nov 13 2001, 12:00:01 pm EST

Belinda Boulter|carbon fiber|Ghostbuster|Ken Strong|Larry Jorgensen|Tryg Hoff

Steve Daleo «stevedaleo» writes:

I agree with your comment about not being able to separate the glider / pilot combination. We’ve been disappointed that no one has really flown a comp with a GB that’s been really optimized/streamlined as some of the ATOS’ have been. I think that has really biased the results.

As you’ve said before, the little things really matter at that level. My personal experience says that the differences are pretty slight. The D cell mod has made a very noticeable performance difference in the GB, mostly at higher speed.

The WW control frame is also a huge improvement. I had the opportunity to fly my unmodified demo side by side with Mark’s modified glider, which I had just completed. We were at Funston on a solid day and at 50 or so, wing tip to wing tip, I went from 100 feet above him to 50 ft below him in about 100 yards. I’d love to do the GB/ATOS comparison. If Quest doesn’t have a modified GB that’s really been done right (vacuum bagged) that makes a difference as well.

I spoke with Larry Jorgensen this weekend as Belinda and I visited with him and Tina. Larry spoke about how much his Ghostbuster was changed by the addition of a 4 inch wide strip of carbon fiber all the way down the leading edge of each d-cell. This keeps the d-cells from bending back at higher speeds and keeps the trailing edge taut when racing between thermals.

This modification has been incorporated in the newer Ghostbusters and Axxess.

He also mentioned that eyewitnesses to Tryg Hoff's ATOS tuck noted that the aluminum tubes at the tips failed during the tuck and therefore didn't provide any force that might have allowed the ATOS to come out of the tuck. Once the ATOS was on its back Tryg fell into the keel and broke the d-cells.

He also mentioned how strong the nose pins, rings and carbon fiber threads are on the ATOS and the IXBO (and by assumption on the Ghostbuster). He noted that they were still completely intact on Tryg's ATOS as well as on Ken Strong's IXBO after their respective accidents. Ken went in nose first from 500 feet.

Wandering pitch »

Fri, Nov 9 2001, 6:00:06 pm EST

Ghostbuster|Pat Denevan|sailplane

Ghostbuster|John "Ole" Olson|Pat Denevan|sailplane

(?-i)John "Ole" Olson|Ghostbuster|Pat Denevan|sailplane

Ghostbuster|John "Ole" Olson|Pat Denevan|sailplane

Finbar Sheehy «mailbox» writes:

I've never flown an ATOS, but Peter Dall's description of "two distinct types of oscillation" rang a bell. The following is from "Fundamentals of Sailplane Design" by Fred Thomas. "Dynamic longitudinal stability may be modeled mathematically as a set of linear differential equations in four independent variables: velocity, angle of attack, pitch angle, and elevator position. Of the four solutions to this system, two are of particular interest: the phugoid mode, and the short-period mode. In each case the behavior depends on specific aspects of the design.

"The phugoid is an oscillation involving variations in airspeed V and pitch angle <theta> at constant angle of attack. For small amplitude oscillations about a nominal trim condition, it can be shown that the period of the oscillation is proportional to the trim airspeed, and the damping inversely proportional to the lift-drag ratio L/D. In modern sailplanes, the phugoid is therefore very lightly damped and may even be unstable. However, due to the long period (typically around 15 seconds), the pilot can control it easily, with little conscious effort.

"The other solution, the short-period mode, is excited (for example) by flying through a sharp-edged vertical gust and is characterized primarily by variations in pitch angle <theta> and angle of attack <alpha>, with relatively little variation in altitude and airspeed. The damping depends considerably on the location of the center of gravity relative to the neutral point, and aerodynamic damping about the pitch axis. In most sailplanes, the motion is well damped, dying out within a single period, so that the short period mode is generally of little importance to conventional sailplanes. Flying wing sailplanes feature inherently low aerodynamic pitch damping and may therefore exhibit marginal longitudinal dynamic stability. Wing elastic degrees of freedom may also participate in the short period motion of flying wing sailplanes."

Peter Dall's description matches these two modes fairly closely: he reports a "first type... when the bar comes in when encountering vertical gusts" and a second type which is a "small amplitude oscillation" in which "the bar wanders in and out an inch or so, even in very smooth air." These sound like what Fred Thomas' book calls "short period motion" and "phugoid motion" respectively, although Peter's comment that the small amplitude oscillation happens "about once per second" doesn't entirely tie with the "around 15 seconds" that Fred Thomas gives for the typical period of phugoid motion - but then again he was describing conventional sailplanes with "elevator position" as one of the controlling variables, rather than a moveable cg position, as is the case with hang gliders. Still, the two descriptions sound to me like the same two phenomena.

Steve Daleo«stevedaleo»writes:

I thought I'd make a comment or two. I think Pat's description was pretty much on the mark. I found noticeable "speed bumps" on Pat's glider while Kevin's modified glider felt really solid and a stock GhostBuster will exhibit just a bit at high speed. I flew all 3 gliders within and hour so the comparison was pretty fresh. Having said that, I could make Pat's glider go faster because Kevin's glider was tuned very tail heavy for me and the bar pressure at high speed was really difficult to manage. There is an additional factor that could be at play. The chordwise sail tension seems to have a noticeable effect on speed bumps. If the tension is low, it is much easier to get the top surface of the sail to separate from the rib and cause a bump (assuming that’s what really happens). Kevin's shear webs may be reducing the tendency of the sail to separate even if the chordwise tension isn't quite high enough. Pat's glider did not have a drum tight center section, the center section on my GB is pretty tight and I didn't pay much attention to Kevin's so I can't comment.

I’ve noticed the sail tension effect on the GhostBuster. But, even with a fairly loose sail the tendency is pretty slight. When the sail tension is right, speed bumps are almost unnoticeable. On a GB with the modified D-spar, the effect seems to be reduced even further. I really don't notice speed bumps at all, even when I'm racing up and down the ridge at Funston. I haven't talked to anyone that thought the GB felt divergent on their first flights, even in rough air. In my conversations with Mario, he has indicated that FD has played around with shear webs without any significant effect. This seems to agree with Felix’s comment.

I found Pat’s comment about the ATOS being the best rigid wing by far somewhat amusing. The performance debate will rage forever I’m sure. But there certainly isn’t any significant body of quantitative data that would support that conclusion. I you haven’t seen / flown a GhostBuster with the modified D Spar, you should. It’s a whole different glider, especially at high speed.

Robert Ormiston«rormiston»writes:

Over a year ago I made a few flights on Pat Denevan's Atos wanting to see what it was like, especially compared to the handling of weight shift hang gliders. On two flights at Funston on different days (the second one was after the glider had been "retuned"), and in moderately bumpy conditions, I was struck by the unusual pitch control feel and wandering bar tendencies. Bar pressure was light, but generally stable (i.e., on the average, a pull force produced a speed increase and vice versa, but the gradient was not obvious and was masked by random tendencies of the bar to move back at times, which is disconcerting to say the least).

Overall, I had no problem controlling pitch, but found the problem very unpleasant and I "complained" to Pat about this objectionable characteristic. Thinking the unusual feel was possibly due to turbulence conditions, after one of my flights, I immediately made another flight on a type of intermediate hang glider that I had not flown before. This was a delightfully handling glider and I was instantly comfortable wringing it out in the moderate turbulence. The control response felt completely predictable, smoothly, and "linear." Of course, I felt the random bumps from turbulence, but all of the bumps resulting from my control inputs were predictable and consistent with the level of my control input. The glider felt solid. In contrast, the Atos seemed to have a mind of its own

Pat's take was that, some folks are aware of this characteristic, and some are not, and, for the most part, many pilots do not think it's a big deal. As an aero engineer, as well as a pilot, I consider it a significant handling qualities deficiency. Control response should be predictable and reasonably linear. I talked to a number of other pilots who flew the same Atos and a few of the more experienced ones were very aware of it and also found it objectionable.

Pat subsequently mentioned to me the theory that the fabric surface covering of the Atos could move in response to angle of attack changes and loading variations on the wing (not being attached to the ribs like conventional aircraft that employ "rib-stitching") and this could certainly produce aerodynamic pitching moments that would result in control bar wandering. He mentioned to me plans to add shear webs to Kevin Cameron's Atos. In my follow-on discussions with Pat, the results do not seem to have been conclusive. So far I have not made any further flights on the Atos - at some point I was hoping to make a flight in still air conditions as Pat and other pilots report the wandering bar is dependent on flight turbulence level. I'm skeptical of this.

The whole issue of roll dynamics, roll control, and roll response in and ATOs/Exxtacy/Ghostbuster control lever (control frame) set up is very interesting to me because of the coupling between control dynamics and pilot pendular dynamics. If someone had proposed that setup, I'd have been very skeptical - but it seems to work fine. Unlike a flex wing the Atos pilot has no fixed structural connection to the wing in the lateral or roll direction. I set up the equations at one point but didn't get around to pursuing any results.

Finbar describes basic longitudinal dynamics of the airplane and that's all ok, but his conclusion that this is the problem on the Atos is all wrong. In a hang glider, the short period mode is so highly damped there is virtually no oscillation, it is really not perceptible to the pilot. The fact that this is so is responsible for the excellent pitch control dynamics of weight shift controlled hang gliders.

The phugoid, however, is a much more interesting subject. It's not really a problem for the hang glider, but is easily excited for observation. In fact I have demonstrated an unstable phugoid mode on my WW Raven 229 under stick free conditions (hands off the bar). Not easy to do because the period of oscillation is long, couple of seconds, and the divergence rate is very low so it takes 4-5 cycles observe the growing amplitude of oscillation.

By this time you have probably entered a turn or started to enter a pilot yaw divergence in your harness (pilot yawing sideways to the glider). I very much enjoy porpoising my glider in pitch in smooth ride lift and letting it pretty much dive and pull out at its natural rhythm with little effort on my part. This is taking advantage of the phugoid, these oscillations occur at the phugoid natural frequency and the lack of effort is due to the fact that this mode is so lightly damped.

In lateral-directional dynamics there are three modes: roll convergence, spiral, and dutch roll. The dutch roll is very bad in a hang glider and often leads to well known PIO troubles. In addition to constant roll-yaw oscillations in turbulence and the need for considerable pilot effort in mastering lateral control. The spiral mode can be annoying if strongly unstable (need to high side in a turn).

In a (not-so-great) technical book on flying wings (forgot the title at the moment) the phenomenon of "pecking" has been mentioned in connection with a few flying wing sailplanes (not hang glider types). It is not well understood, but was associated only with flight in turbulent air. I don't know what to make of it as the technical descriptions were very incomplete.

I suspect the Atos phenomenon is an unsteady aerodynamic separation phenomenon or a flexible surface aeroelastic issue - hence my interest in the shear webs.

ATOS with shear ribs

Thu, Oct 25 2001, 2:00:02 pm EDT

Felix Ruehle|Ghostbuster|Pat Denevan

I had contacted Pat Denevan «mission» at Mission Soaring in Milpitas near the Ed Levin site on the southeast corner of the San Francisco Bay about getting a box to ship my ATOS back to Wallaby. Pat wrote back about his experience with shear ribs sewn into the ATOS sail.

I had tried shear ribs before on the Exxtacy and I had spoken with Kevin Cameron at the Lone Star Nationals about the shear ribs on his ATOS. I was skeptical about their actual effect on how the ATOS felt and performed. Pat had this to say about his experience:

I love the Atos except for the pitch disturbance in certain kinds of air. When the air is stable but choppy the glider bar pressure changes in disturbing manner. When I'm pulling in and get a bump the glider wants to dive and the bar pressure goes negative for a moment. At that point I feel like I really don't want to pull in more since it feels like it may want to continue.

Normally I just keep the bar in the same position and then I can ignore these bar pressure changes. When I demo the glider at Funston pilots find it disturbing enough to say " Feels Divergent". On the same day flex wing pilots might say it's a little turbulent. A good example of a glider that feels like this is the Ram Air.

One of the reasons this glider wasn't successful as it could be is the wandering pitch pressure. If we can get rid of this "divergent feeling " I could sell many more than the 14 Atos I have sold so far.

Steve Deleo, the new Ghostbuster dealer in the bay area, flew Kevin's Atos and then our demo. He said Kevin's was really solid feeling, the demo pitch was wandering, and his Ghostbuster was in between. I have never flown the Ghostbuster or Exxtacy. I flew a Fledge 1 in the late 70's. The pitch pressures were fine, I couldn't stand the tail heaviness and the set up was a real pain. The Fledge 2b tail heaviness was a back destroyer, so I went back to flex wings.

The Atos is the best rigid wing by a large margin and I have been flying both sizes, with a slight preference for the 146.

ATOS designer Felix Ruehle states that the shear ribs make no difference, and no one knows for sure as it is hard to quantify their effects. Pat mentions that it is possible to use sticky back Dacron tape to put Velcro strips into the sail to act as shear ribs. Perhaps I'll have a chance to try that out in Australia in January.

Obviously rigid wing hang gliders are going to have a different feel than flex wing hang gliders, but just what and why remain elusive. The ATOSes that I'm flown seem to have plenty of pitch stability, and I don't recall any "wandering pitch." Still I would like to find out more about this issue.

Separate classes for rigid wings and Swifts

Sat, Oct 20 2001, 6:00:02 pm EDT

CIVL|Ghostbuster|PG|record|USHGA

The USHGA BOD agreed to replace the existing USHGA hang glider class definitions with the following:

The existing paragraphs found in CHAPTER 4: GLIDER CLASSES AND EQUIPMENT of the USHGA Competition Rulebook be replaced with the following:

"Definitions of a hang glider shall be those found in Section 1.4 'General requirements for hang gliders' of the latest CIVL Sporting code and all sections referred to therein."

What this means is that the USHGA will now use the CIVL class definitions for their Category II competitions. On January 1st, 2002, this means that rigid wing hang gliders and Swift-like gliders will be in separate classes.

They also passed the motion to strike the provision "4. 4.I. Fairings - no requirements or restrictions," from the USHGA Competition Rulebook. This means that any rules with respect to fairings will be determined by the current CIVL class definitions.

The USHGA BOD directed their CIVL representative to present to the CIVL Bureau and hopefully later to the CIVL Plenary (based on the response of the Bureau) the following proposal:

CIVL Class Definition (edited version):

Class 1 Flex wings
Class 2 Rigid wings with full fairings capable of nil-winds launches
Class 3 Paragliders
Class 4 Rigid wings without full fairings, capable of nil-wind launches
Class 5 Rigid wings capable of foot launching

Full fairing is a streamlined structure rigidly attached to the glider frame, partially or fully enclosing the pilot and as much as practical the surrounding structures.

There is no further definition at this point regarding the fairing. The subcommittee interpreted this to mean that the unfaired Millenniums can fly with the ATOSes and Ghostbusters in Class 4. Swifts with fairings and/or windows/canopies would stay in Class 2.

World records would be moved to the proper classes.

There are some additional parts of the proposal, which would add some flexibility regarding whether rigid wing hang gliders could be in both classes 2 and 4 and whether the records would follow them to both classes if they fit in 2 and 4.

All these motions were passed unanimously by the Competition Committee and then passed unanimously by the BOD.

World Record 200-kilometer triangle

Sun, Sep 16 2001, 8:00:02 pm EDT

Ghostbuster|record

Leila Schmidt «leila.schmidt» writes:

Marcus Hoffmann-Guben -- Flight Design official pilot -- set the new World Speed-Record over 200 km -- FAI TRIANGLE (43,8 km/h, 27.2 mph) in Saint André-Les-Alpes (South of France), on August 22nd. Marcus was flying a GHOSTBUSTER.

Here's a chart of airspeeds over the five-hour flight.

 

This chart is interesting in that it indicates that Marcus spent most of his time flying straight, or only turning for a few seconds at a time. It doesn't have the pattern of two predominant air speeds (gliding and climbing), but rather is predominated by one air speed, about 37 mph. A couple of times Marcus had to stop and circle, once for about ten minutes at about 31 mph. I would guess that best glide speed is about 33 or maybe 34 mph.

It seems that he was able to fly along the ridges or under cloud streets for most of the flight. He wasn't flying at interthermal speeds, which would have been between 40 and 45 mph on a strong day, so it seems like he was flying slow enough to stay up in the areas where he could continue flying straight.

Marcus currently holds the Class II 200 kilometer FAI triangle speed World Record at 24.7 mph set in an AIR ATOS last year in apparently the same place about a week before this record. 27.2 mph is a very good improvement in speed over such a long triangle. For example, my World Record speed over a 25-kilometer FAI triangle is 30.5 mph, but my World Record speed over 100 kilometer FAI triangle is a slow 21.4 mph. Both were set in an AIR ATOS.

Pending world records can be found at: http://records.fai.org/hang_gliding/pending.asp

Congratulations to Marcus on his fine achievement and to Flight Design for their fine glider.

USHGA should adopt CIVL classes

Wed, Sep 12 2001, 2:00:03 pm EDT

CIVL|Dennis Pagen|Ghostbuster|PG|USHGA

The USHGA BOD meeting is coming up in mid October, and the CIVL Bureau meets in late October. Our representative to CIVL, Dennis Pagen, is also the CIVL Secretary (one of the members of the Bureau or executive committee), as well as chairman of the working subcommittee examining the Class II definition.

Currently the USHGA Competition Rulebook has its own definition of hang glider (and paraglider) classes that conflicts with the present and future definition CIVL classes. I am a proponent of the point of view that Swifts and faired caged gliders should not be scored in the same class at rigid wing hang gliders, ATOSes, Ghostbusters, etc. This is also what the CIVL class definitions, which go into effect on January 1st, 2002, mandate.

I want Swifts and ATOSes to be scored in separate classes in US competitions. Therefore I propose that the existing paragraphs found in CHAPTER 4: GLIDER CLASSES AND EQUIPMENT of the USHGA Competition Rulebook be replaced with the following:

"Definitions of a hang glider shall be those found in Section 1.4 'General requirements for hang gliders' of the latest CIVL Sporting code and all sections referred to therein."

Hot pilots and ships at the⁢ Wallaby Open

Wed, Sep 5 2001, 8:00:01 pm EDT

Hot pilots and ships

Ghostbuster|Hansjoerg Truttmann|Manfred Ruhmer|US Nationals|Wallaby Open 2001

The top flex wing pilots make goal on every one of the five days at the Wallaby Open. This is also true for the Swift and the ATOS, so we have plenty of data. The Ghostbuster makes goal 3 out of 5 days, so we drop it from the chart.

This chart gives the maximum speed of the fastest pilot on each day:

Now, the fastest Laminar pilot everyday is Manfred, so this chart gives his average speed over the five tasks. Hansjoerg is the fastest ATOS pilot on four days, and I'm the fastest on the day he puts the tips on the ATOS prototype.

Notice that the fastest ATOS pilot is 5% better than Manfred on the Laminar. I would argue that Manfred and gear is probably the better pilot of the three. Therefore, this data suggests that the ATOS (there are two different versions here) is a little bit better than 5% better than the Laminar. Hansjoerg has a bit of weight on Manfred even when Manfred is wearing ballast (Hansjoerg is also), so that may account for some of the difference.

Notice, that the fastest ATOS pilot is ever so slightly better than Brian on the Swift. We have a very good idea from the US Nationals results just how much better the Swift is than the ATOS (28%) so it is pretty clear that Brian is flying very poorly here. A review of the individual days shows that Brian struggles on a number of them.

The fastest Litespeed pilot (shared among three pilots) is very slightly slower than Manfred on the Laminar. When we look at the two fastest Laminar pilots and compare them with the two fastest Litespeed pilots, the results are exactly the same (to two decimal points). Since we have top World class Laminar and Litespeed pilots, this would indicate that the Laminar and Litespeed as gliders are very very close to each other in performance.

The Talon pilots greatly improve on their performance relative to what it was at the Flytec Championships. They are still not up there with the Litespeed and Laminar pilots at this point and will have to wait until the US Nationals to match their performance. This improvement seems to show that the pilots are getting use to flying the glider (doesn't seem to be enough time to make any improvements in the Talon).

The Stealth pilots still trail a bit as they did in the Nationals (which came later, of course) and the Flytec Championship. This consistent pattern seems to indicate that either the Stealth isn't quite up to the competition, the Stealth pilots aren't quite there, or a little of both.

Discuss "Hot pilots and ships at the⁢ Wallaby Open" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Looking at the numbers

Sat, Sep 1 2001, 6:00:01 pm EDT

Chris Arai|Ghostbuster|Jim Lee|Manfred Ruhmer|Mario Campanella|Martin Harri

Encouraged by Jerz Rossignol and Dave Seaburg, I decided to extend and further refine the analysis that I carried out on the Nationals data originally started by Dean Williams. I went back and looked at similar data for the 2001 Flytec Championship and the 2001 Wallaby Open.

I'm not doing a statistical analysis of the data, but rather using the data and what I know about what happened on various days that might effect the average values, I'm looking to see what the data suggests.

What you see, depends on what you are looking for, i.e. what questions you are asking. We would love to be able to answer the question, what is the best flex wing glider, i.e. what flex wing gets to goal the quickest in a contest. This is a difficult question to answer, as the pilot has a lot to do with it. Still if we had equally skilled pilots, with equally slick gear, we would be able to approach answering this question.

The contest answers the question, who is the best pilot, but our analysis will give us a better idea of what it means to be the best pilot.

I won't go through everything in this article, but publish a series of articles that will look at these contests in depth and perhaps give us a better idea about the current state of hang gliding development.

First, let's look at the results of the 2001 Flytec Championship. Pilots only made goal on four days, so we have a lot less data than we do for the Nationals. Here's what a massaged version of the data looks like:

 

The average speed of the fastest two pilots to goal on each glider type.

The Laminar and the Litespeed pilots are the fastest. You may remember that the Talon pilots were right up there with them at the Nationals. Well, this is the prototype Talon in the spring of this year. A few of the pilots flying the Talon (Jim Lee and Chris Arai) hadn't ever flown one and all Talon pilots were flying the latest prototype which had been only out for a couple of weeks. This would suggest that the Talon has improved since the spring and that the Talon pilots are better able to fly it.

Manfred is flying the Laminar and he is the world's best hang glider pilot. Gerolf is right behind him, and so are the two fastest Litespeed pilots. In fact, they are within 1% and essentially indistinguishable using the speed data for four days. Of course, Manfred distinguished himself by winning the competition.

The ATOS pilots showed themselves again to be just slightly better in terms of speed to goal than the fastest pilot on a top flex wing. The difference is quite small.

Brian, in the Swift, does significantly better than the ATOS pilots, but not nearly so much better as Robin (or Robin and Brian combined) did in the Nationals. This shows that when two Swifts are flying and not being held back by the hang gliders that they can do much better. At the Nationals Robin continually flew his Swift at a level commensurate with its superior performance and thereby pushed Brian to do likewise.

I looked at the data in a number of ways and finally came up with this picture as the best view when it came to answering our questions. But, I had to do a little massaging to get there. First, you'll notice that I left out the Stealth pilots. Well, that was because on one day no Stealth pilots made it to goal. As you can imagine on a difficult day it was a slow slog and on that day the average times were much slower than on the other three days. If I had included in the analysis the Stealth pilot's average for three days, and everyone else's average for four, then the Stealth pilot's average would have been biased unfairly high.

If I looked at just two days that all four flex wings made it to goal, I found that the two fastest Stealth pilots were just 3/10th of a mile an hour slower than the fastest two Talon pilots. The fastest Stealth pilots were also slower at the Nationals.

Overall the fastest two Litespeed pilots flew faster than the fastest two Laminar pilots, but I decided to not count Tomas and Martin Harri's flights on one day (but took the next two fastest Litespeed pilots). The reason was they were very smart and took a different direction and better line and flew much faster than the lead gaggle and almost all rest of the field. They basically flew a different task.

I would have kept these flights in the analysis if I wanted to answer the question who were the smartest and fastest pilots, but I'm trying to answer the question, which gliders are the best. I would hope to have the same pilots flying the different gliders in the same way, but I can't have this, so the closest I can come is eliminating obvious "tricks" like this.

You'll also notice that the Ghostbuster pilots seemed really slow. They really aren't this slow. This is due to a very slow time on the last day when Mario Campanella is the only GB to make it into goal and he is an hour behind anyone else. If I look at the data without this last day, the Ghostbuster pilots are just about as fast as the Talon pilots.

Given that Manfred is a superior pilot, and that Gerolf is very close to him in skill level, etc. I think that this data and the Nationals data published earlier suggest the following:

The Laminar and the Litespeed are very similar in performance. We can't tell from this data if one is better than the other.

The Talon at this point in the spring has a ways to go, as do Talon pilots.

Either the Stealth isn't quite as good at the Litespeed or Laminar or the Stealth pilots are just not up to Gerolf's and Manfred's skill level (or maybe they have draggy gear).

Given the likely level of ATOS pilot skill, the ATOS is a few percent better glider than the very best flex wing, likely in the neighborhood of 5%.

Brian is being held back by the lack of real competition for the Swift.

Next time I'll look at the 2001 Wallaby Open.

Who's got the hot ship?

Tue, Aug 28 2001, 4:00:00 pm EDT

Ghostbuster|US Nationals|Worlds

Deane Williams sent out a report earlier today comparing the average speeds of the gliders/pilots that made goal at the recent US Nationals. He was kind enough to send me his work sheet, as I wanted to do a slightly different comparison.

I corrected a set of errors for the rigid wing pilots for day seven, but otherwise used Dean's data taken from the published results of the Nationals. I then took the average of the two fastest pilots (at most) making goal on each glider on each day. Here's what I found out:

 

Average speed of the two fastest glider/pilots making goal at the 2001 US Nationals.

First, clearly the Swift is in a class by itself. It averages 7.5 mph faster than the next closest glider, the ATOS. It is almost 30 percent faster than the ATOS. From what I know about the pilots, I would estimate that nearly 100% of the difference between the Swift and the ATOS resides in the gliders. (I didn't display the data for the ESC, Stalker, and Exxtacy, as they had only one pilot making goal. With only one pilot, the pilot could explain all the variation.)

Second, while the ATOS proved itself to be the fastest hang glider, it is quite unlikely that the difference in speed between the Ghostbuster and the ATOS is anywhere near a 100% a result of glider differences. From what I know about the pilots and their gear much of the explanation for this difference resides there. Still, the ATOS does prove itself to be the better glider of the two rigid wing hang gliders.

The ATOS flown by the top finishing ATOS pilots shows itself to be slightly better than the Litespeed, Laminar and Talon, between 1 and 1.5 mph. This is actually a significant difference. Making the assumption that the top flex wing pilots are just a little bit better than the top ATOS pilots, I'd estimate that the glider is about 1.5 - 2mph better than the top flex wing glider. The figures shown on the chart show the ATOS to be about 4 percent better than the Litespeed.

The differences between the Talon, Laminar and Litespeed are quite small but significant. It is these small differences that determine who wins and who loses, so that is the significance. If you average a half-mile an hour faster than the next guy, you are going to beat him.

Looking over the pilots who were the top pilots flying these gliders (say looking at their finish position at the Worlds, for example) it would appear that the difference in pilot skill who be quite enough to explain the small differences shown here. Certainly we can't draw any conclusions about which of the three gliders is better from this data and even from background knowledge about the pilots, etc.

The Stealth shows a few miles an hour slower performance, but again this may be mostly due to pilot skill and experience. Knowing who was flying these gliders it would be my feeling that this is most of the explanation.

US Nationals – Did I say that we were having fun? »

Fri, Aug 17 2001, 3:00:00 am EDT

Ghostbuster|Jamie Shelden|Jim Lee|Mark Poustinchian|sailplane|US Nationals|Wallaby Ranch|weather

Ghostbuster|Jamie Shelden|Jim Lee|John "Ole" Olson|Mark Poustinchian|sailplane|US Nationals|Wallaby Ranch|weather

(?-i)John "Ole" Olson|Ghostbuster|Jamie Shelden|Jim Lee|Mark Poustinchian|sailplane|US Nationals|Wallaby Ranch|weather

Bruce Barmakian|Ghostbuster|Jamie Shelden|Jim Lee|John "Ole" Olson|Mark Poustinchian|sailplane|US Nationals|Wallaby Ranch|weather

Bruce Barmakian|Ghostbuster|Jamie Shelden|Jamie Sheldon|Jim Lee|John "Ole" Olson|Mark Poustinchian|sailplane|US Nationals|Wallaby Ranch|weather

Ghostbuster|Jamie Shelden|Jim Lee|Mark Poustinchian|sailplane|US Nationals|Wallaby Ranch|weather

This has been a great meet so far. Really fun flying, great tasks, hard racing, long tasks for strategy, and today even more excitement.

The weather has been the big "If" at this meet. Would it be possible to get a task off, or would it over develop, or would there be so many high clouds that there wouldn't be any heating at all? We could see from the radar graphs that the storms were just a bit to the north and west. Would they get to Hearne? Would the sea breeze convergence kick off another area of too much instability?

Give all the uncertainties the task committee calls a 55-mile out and return. To all my European readers, this is called a short task. J They don't have a turnpoint to the east, so we pull one off the map. Sure is great to do this all virtually off the GPS.

We are going east to keep away from the OD to the north. We don't go south because that would mean that the return leg would be down wind. The task committee always wants the last leg to be the most difficult.

A short task is called because it looks like it will OD later in the day. But, we've got to get enough lift earlier to get up and on course, so there is a narrow window of opportunity.

The rigids and the flex wings will fly together and have the same start times. This keeps the early bird points fair. It means that there is a bigger impact on the tug/trike resources at launch time as we are all going together.

The first start times are 1:15 and 1:30, but the lift isn't there early. Four rigid wings stay in the air but climb very slowly, everyone else comes down. Pilots are reluctant to launch in the poor lift conditions.

The start gate times get pushed back twice, finally to 2:30 and 2:45 PM. I launch the second time at 1:15 and that gets pilots going. Still it is a slog, finding lift at 900' AGL and working 50 fpm until it finally gets good. All the tugs drag pilots over to my pitiful little thermal.

The high stuff goes away and we have lots of cumulus clouds as the day progresses. We're climbing up to 5,200'. Lift gets plentiful and we are so happy that the day wasn't called earlier when the lift looked poor.

Six miles east of the airport we hang in light lift near cloud base waiting for the start times. Only a few pilots take the 2:30 PM start time as we go through a lull and lose 1,000' just before this first start time. The opposite happens just before 2:45 PM and we are at 5,600' AGL when the last start gate opens at 2:45.

 

All the flexes and rigids are together so we are really mixing it up. Even the ultralight sailplanes are there. With a few pilots out on the course and flashing their colors as we head out, we are in racing mode and ready for action.

Brian and Robin race out in front high. They will fly the whole course together. Everyone is moving very quickly and not stopping for poor lift.

Soon all the rigid wing hang gliders are out in front (not counting Robin and Brian who are really out in front). We are all tightly bunched together and gliding for long distances together. The performances seem pretty similar. Reggie Jones is just in front (and he wanted me to mention that he does make goal, and that Ghostbusters do get to goal – sometimes J).

I mentioned to Reggie that I had taken out ten pounds of ballast. I had taken it out earlier in the morning when I was doing some flying for a pilot film (more about this later). This may have reduced my glide speed a little. Reggie kept his non deployable ballast in his harness. J Johann was gliding quite fast with his new ATOS-C.

We found a strong thermal just a mile and a half from the turnpoint and clumped together. The flexies were far below in the same thermal. Mark Poustinchian who took the early start gate was coming back from the turnpoint.

The Swifts were getting by far the best performance, then many of the rigid wing hang gliders were ahead of the flexes. This was a task that really selected for performance as it was easy to race and find lift.

We hit the turnpoint after a fast climb and then began the crosswind task back to Hearne. The winds were out of the south at about 5 to 10 mph, so it was no big deal to work with the crosswind.

To our north a cu nimb or two or three had formed while we were out on course. It was quite dark just a few miles to our north, but I didn't see any rain and there was no lightning or thunder. It looked safe, but you sure wanted to get back quickly and stay away from the shadowed areas.

It was a fast race back to the goal under lots of clouds that were starting to get vertical. Still plenty of sun while the rigids were getting back but it was getting iffy after us. Robin and Brian into goal first, Mark Poustinchian, myself, and then Bruce Barmakian who also started at 2:30 PM like Mark.

Ten minutes later the lead gaggle of flex wings came across the line with Gerolf in the lead and Jim Lee very close behind. Paris was a gaggle behind and Bo didn't make it to goal, as the clouds thickened up and the lift stopped. Ooh, the contest is getting very interesting as the top spots in the flex wing category are getting very close together. This is a real competition with a number of pilots with a legitimate shot at winning the meet.

It takes me 1 hour and forty-five minutes to complete the 49-mile task. It takes 45 minutes to fly the 22 miles from the circumference of the start circle to the turnpoint (29-mph) with average lift while circling at 393 fpm. It takes 1 hour to fly the 27 miles back to goal.

We've got one more day of flying. If not tomorrow then Saturday – eight days to get seven.

As I write this, the "infirmary" next door is having a full-fledged party. The "Wallaby Ranch" pilots are renamed to Gimpy (Carlos), Ichy (Curt), Stumpy (Sugarman), and Chimpy (Pete). Valerie is in charge.

Speaking of Curt, he had a spectacular goal crossing coming into a strong head wind low over the pilot's trailers and airport building and just making goal.

Jamie Sheldon bonked herself on landing out 6 miles from goal. She was a little loopy when we got to her about an hour later. We had JZ take her to the hospital for a check up. The only damage to the glider was a whack tube that she took out when she turtled the Exxtacy. Bruce and I packed it up and wheeled it out of the huge, well manicured field.

The results are up on the Austin Airports web site (www.austinairsports.com).

2001 Flytec World Record Encampment »

Fri, Jun 29 2001, 5:00:01 pm EDT

Blue Sky|Davis Straub|Flytec World Record Encampment 2001|Ghostbuster|Jim Lamb|PG|record|Tom Pierce|USHGA

Blue Sky|Davis Straub|Flytec World Record Encampment 2001|Ghostbuster|Jim Lamb|PG|record|Tom Pierce|USHGA|World Record Encampment

Blue Sky|Davis Straub|Flytec World Record Encampment 2001|Ghostbuster|Jim Lamb|PG|record|Tom Pierce|USHGA|World Record Encampment

Dave Prentice launched his paraglider at 1:15 PM and flew 125 miles today in 4 hours. New Texas state record and his personal best. No reflection on Tom Pierce, but he actually out flew Tom who was flying his ATOS for his second longest flight ever of 105 miles. Tom launched just before Dave and flew with him for a short while. That is until Dave scared him when he did a full frontal collapse.

Dave reported going down wind at 53 mph. This was a bit scary.

Don Sebastian on a Millennium had his longest flight at 216 miles, launching around 1 PM.

Yesterday Kevin Coltrane, whose longest flight before he got here was 11 miles, went 130 miles yesterday in his Moyes Sonic. I wonder if this is the longest flight in a Moyes Sonic.

Most pilots launched later with Jim Lamb and Jim Neff (the 285-mile boys) launching between 10:30 and 11 AM. Other pilots launched between noon and 3 PM. Neff landed at about 21 miles out and Jim Lamb decided to stop at 100+ miles out as the conditions were too rough (on his last flight he was doing 800 fpm thermals one-handed).

BTW, I forgot to mention that Mark set the new world record yesterday on his ATOS. He sold his Ghostbuster earlier.

We are looking for early morning moist conditions with the promise of cu's forming at 6:50 AM. So far this has happened on only two days. Today was forecast to be a bit moister than yesterday but it was not the case.

I launched at 9:10 AM in a completely blue sky with a marked inversion. I was able to glide 30 miles in 30 minutes from 6,400' to 1,800'. I first started feeling bubbles at 2,600' at 9:45 (after pinning off at 9:20) and was able to find workable lift (40 fpm) at 1,800'.

My strategy was to get out a long ways early, but hopefully not too early. Then drift low at 20 mph in light lift over landable areas that were far behind locked gates, until conditions improved. We were looking for clouds to form around 10 or 11 AM.

The winds were strong at 20 mph out of the southeast and I was able to stay in light lift for an hour until it started to get better and I was able to climb back up to 3,500 a couple of times in 300 fpm. I hit a stretch of sink, after hitting very little sink, just before eleven, glided for ten miles looking for lift, and went down at 11:10 AM at 70 miles.

As I was coming into land I hit a good thermal, but I was drifting low over Mesquite that continued for the next twenty miles with very few breaks, so I wasn't able to take this lift back and up.

Clouds started forming about 12:50. We were hoping for quite a bit earlier cloud formation.

I found this little guy crossing the road to the Zapata County Airport:

 

2001 Worlds – taking a hat »

Wed, Jun 27 2001, 6:00:00 pm EDT

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Andreas Olsson|Attila Bertok|carbon fiber|Chris Muller|Christian Ciech|Corinna Schwiegershausen|Gerolf Heinrichs|Ghostbuster|Gordon Rigg|Johann Posch|John Borton|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Josef "Zwecki" Zweckmayr|Luiz Niemeyer|Manfred Ruhmer|Oleg Bondarchuk|PG|Rohan Holtkamp|Rohan Taylor|Vicki Cain|Worlds 2001

See latest reports at http://www.theleague.force9.co.uk/worlds/worlds.htm Apparently the best conditions so far, but due to airspace considerations, a short task was called. 70 pilots at goal. John Borton says that Paris may have won the day.

Vicki Cain «vix001» writes:

Yesterday was cooler and less stable, clear blue skies. We heard early that it would be an open distance day and headed up the mountain early, but a task was called 120.6-km dogleg to Villanueva del Trabuco with the turnpoint at Estepsa. Steve was off first again at 3pm in the ordered launch, but no one pushed today! He took off at 3.30 pm, Gerolf made a push after Steve so the lane moved quickly. Once there are about 50 pilots in the air Juaki blows a siren to hold the launches on all 3 lanes until the congestion eases. Gerolf gets off, but the launch order is stopped just before Attila and Manfred. They wait about, I guess 10 minutes, but it's too long for Manfred, he's getting impatient. Then the siren goes off again and they are away.

We head down the hill and hear when we get to HQ that there was a mid air between a rigid wing and hang glider, following is a note from this mornings briefing. Accident: Yesterday there was an unfortunate mid air collision. We must again stress the importance of flying like you drive-watch out for the other guy! The two pilots who were involved in the accident were the Russian, Natalia Petrova, who suffered minor injuries and the American, Mark Mullholland, whose injuries were more serious. He had to be evacuated by helicopter and taken to a hospital in Seville. Although he is in ICU, his condition is stable and he is conscious. We thank the German doctor and Corinna Schwiegershausen for all their help.

Each pilot who was unable to launch due to the accident will receive the number of points which is an average of their scores for all the previous tasks. There are 16 pilots.

We head out on course and intend to go to goal. Molly and I in one car and Bill and Bobby in the other. We are on the Australian radio channel and hear that Phil is down so Bill leaves to pick him up. Shortly after I get a call from Brett for pick up. We all bought Spanish mobile phones from the HQ at about A$130 each, they are really handy for retrieve. We find Brett at about 8. 30 in a big open field between an olive grove and a sunflower field.

Neither car make goal to see them come in but we hear it was exciting. Luiz Niemeyer wins the day with a time of 2:38:53, Manfred is 14 seconds behind Luiz and Gerolf 4 seconds behind Manfred. It was cross tail to the turnpoint and tailwind to goal. 21 pilots make goal (sorry I don't have any Class 2 results )

Pilots to make goal: Luiz, Manfred, Gerolf, Nene, Zwecky, Attila, Reisinger, Oleg, Rohan, Gordon Rigg, Tommy, Ron Richardson, Romero Castrillon, Oliver Kalin, Paris, Bob Baier, Jean-Francois Gerard, Steve Moyes, Andreas Olsson, Richard Walbec, Jon Durand Jr.

Brett gets a call from Chris Muller who is at Granada for the Paragliding World's. They have a day off because of the strong wind and we meet up with them in Antequerra for dinner. Home by 1 am.

We find out this morning that Jonny is penalised 10 % of his score for aerobatic maneuvers over launch. He's not a happy chappy. Jonny has been playing games with the launch marshal that stands out in front. As he takes off he grabs the launch marshal's hat!!!

I just realised that from my report it looks like that Jonny was penalised for playing with the launch marshal, that was not the case. Another pilot in addition to Jon did a low pass out it front of launch, they were both penalised for that reason.

 

Photo of Manfred, Markus (Gerolf's cousin and driver), Gerolf and Richard

Class I after five tasks:

1 RUHMER, Manfred Icaro - Laminar MRX 14 AUT 3632
2 HEINRICHS, Gerolf Moyes - Litespeed 4 AUT 3479
3 HOLTKAMP, Rohan Airborne - Climax 13 AUS 3254
4 REISINGER, Robert Icaro - Laminar MRX 14 AUT 3254
5 BAIER, Bob Moyes - Litespeed 4 DEU 3033
6 BONDARCHUCK, Oleg Aeros - Combat UKR 2975
7 NIEMEYER, Luiz Icaro - Laminar ST14 BRA 2924
8 MOYES, Steve Moyes - Litespeed 5 AUS 2834
9 SCHMITZ, Betinho Moyes - Litespeed 4 BRA 2761
10 BERTOK, Attila Moyes - Litespeed 5 HUN 2750

Class I teams:

Austria, Brazil, Australia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Switzerland, USA, Spain, Ukraine

Class II after five tasks:

1 PLONER, Alessaandro Air - Atos - C ITA
2 CIECH, Cristian Air - Atos - C ITA 3820
3 TRIMMEL, Manfred Air - Atos - C AUT 3383
4 BUSSINGER, Diego Air - Atos - C CHE 3232
5 ITAGAKI, Naoki Air - Atos JPN 3228

Johann Posch was second on the fifth task. Diego Bussinger is doing much better in Spain on his ATOS than he did in Florida on his Ghostbuster. I wonder what "AIR ATOS C" stands for. Maybe the ATOSes with carbon fiber control frames? Two of the Italians state that their gliders as "AIR/Icaro ATOS." The Aeriane - Swift Prototype continues to do poorly.

Class II teams:

Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Japan, Germany, France, USA, Spain, Great Britain

Team scoring now seems to be fixed. Previously only two pilots were being reported in scoring Class II.

WAG Hang Gliding web site: (http://www.wag2001.org/Hang%20Gliding/Main%20Frame.htm):

You can find results (if and when) at:

http://resultados.wag2001.org/hg_c1.asp
http://resultados.wag2001.org/hg_c2.asp

or

http://www.algodonales.org/hgwag2001/resultadosing.htm
http://www.algodonales.org/hgwag2001/resultados.htm (Spanish)

ATOS/GB rental

Wed, May 23 2001, 1:00:04 pm EDT

Davis Straub|Ghostbuster|Mark Poustinchian|USHGA

Davis Straub|Ghostbuster|Mark Poustinchian|USHGA|World Record Encampment

Davis Straub|Ghostbuster|Mark Poustinchian|USHGA|World Record Encampment

Mark Poustinchian «mpousti» writes:

I have a GhostBuster or an ATOS for rent during the WRE or the USA Nationals in Texas. I can fly either one and would have the other one if an overseas pilot needs to rent one. I like both gliders, so they can choose which one they want to fly. I am easy and can get along with any glider. They can contact me by my email «markpoustinchian» or my cell phone 352-874-9085.

ATOS pilots at the Worlds

Mon, May 21 2001, 3:00:00 pm EDT

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Christian Ciech|Christof Kratzner|Ghostbuster|Hansjoerg Truttmann|Worlds

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Christian Ciech|Christof Kratzner|Ghostbuster|Hansjoerg Truttmann|Worlds

Hansjörg Truttmann «hansjoerg.truttmann» writes:

Diego Bussinger, Switzerland (former leader of the world ranking) was supposed to fly a wing by Flight Design (Ghostbuster, Axcess?). Now, Diego has decided to fly the Atos, as he did when he moved up to the world ranking lead.

Also flying class 2 at the worlds (if the Italian national aeroclub is able to organise valid inscriptions for the worlds): Alex Ploner and Christian Ciech. Alex was ranked 20th in class 1 at the Worlds in 1999 in Italy and Christian Ciech, world-class flex wing pilot and winner of the Speedrun '99 in Kitzbuehel (A). Alex and Christian will fly on Atos' also.

Together with the Class-2-European-champion Mario Campanello, Italy will have a strong team.

Christof Kratzner (current world champion) will not take part at the worlds.

I have heard Jim Zeiset is looking for an Atos to rent during the worlds. Another pilot to change back to Atos also.

Diego Bussinger has told me, that he doubts if the Axxess by Flight Design will be ready for the Worlds and that's why he changed to his Atos.

Flytec Championship money distribution

Sun, May 13 2001, 3:00:01 pm EDT

Curt Warren|David Glover|Gary Wirdnam|Ghostbuster|Manfred Ruhmer|Mark Poustinchian|record|Wills Wing

Curt Warren|David Glover|Davis Straub|Gary Wirdnam|Ghostbuster|Manfred Ruhmer|Mark Poustinchian|record|Wills Wing

Aeros Combat|Curt Warren|David Glover|Davis Straub|Gary Wirdnam|Ghostbuster|Manfred Ruhmer|Mark Poustinchian|record|Wills Wing

Aeros Combat|Brian Porter|Curt Warren|David Glover|Davis Straub|Gary Wirdnam|Ghostbuster|Manfred Ruhmer|Mark Poustinchian|record|Wills Wing

Aeros Combat|Brian Porter|Campbell Bowen|Curt Warren|David Glover|Davis Straub|Gary Wirdnam|Ghostbuster|Manfred Ruhmer|Mark Poustinchian|record|Wills Wing

Aeros Combat|Brian Porter|Campbell Bowen|Curt Warren|David Glover|Davis Straub|Gary Wirdnam|Ghostbuster|Kari Castle|Manfred Ruhmer|Mark Poustinchian|record|Wills Wing

Aeros Combat|Brian Porter|Campbell Bowen|Curt Warren|David Glover|Davis Straub|Gary Wirdnam|Ghostbuster|Kari Castle|Manfred Ruhmer|Mark Poustinchian|record|Steve Elkins|Wills Wing

Aeros Combat|Brett Hazlett|Brian Porter|Campbell Bowen|Curt Warren|David Glover|Davis Straub|Gary Wirdnam|Ghostbuster|Kari Castle|Manfred Ruhmer|Mark Poustinchian|record|Steve Elkins|Wills Wing

Aeros Combat|Brett Hazlett|Brian Porter|Campbell Bowen|Curt Warren|David Glover|Davis Straub|Gary Wirdnam|Gerolf Heinrichs|Ghostbuster|Kari Castle|Manfred Ruhmer|Mark Poustinchian|record|Steve Elkins|Wills Wing

Aeros Combat|Brett Hazlett|Brian Porter|Campbell Bowen|Curt Warren|David Glover|Davis Straub|Gary Wirdnam|Gerolf Heinrichs|Ghostbuster|Jim Lee|Kari Castle|Manfred Ruhmer|Mark Poustinchian|record|Steve Elkins|Wills Wing

Aeros Combat|Brett Hazlett|Brian Porter|Campbell Bowen|Curt Warren|David Glover|Davis Straub|Gary Wirdnam|Gerolf Heinrichs|Ghostbuster|Jim Lee|Johann Posch|Kari Castle|Manfred Ruhmer|Mark Poustinchian|record|Steve Elkins|Wills Wing

Aeros Combat|Brett Hazlett|Brian Porter|Campbell Bowen|Curt Warren|David Glover|David Sharp|Davis Straub|Gary Wirdnam|Gerolf Heinrichs|Ghostbuster|Jim Lee|Johann Posch|Kari Castle|Manfred Ruhmer|Mark Poustinchian|record|Steve Elkins|Wills Wing

Aeros Combat|Brett Hazlett|Brian Porter|Campbell Bowen|Curt Warren|David Glover|David Sharp|Davis Straub|Gary Wirdnam|Gerolf Heinrichs|Ghostbuster|Jim Lee|Johann Posch|Kari Castle|Manfred Ruhmer|Mark Poustinchian|Paris Williams|record|Steve Elkins|Wills Wing

Aeros Combat|Brett Hazlett|Brian Porter|Campbell Bowen|Curt Warren|David Glover|David Sharp|Davis Straub|Gary Wirdnam|Gerolf Heinrichs|Ghostbuster|Jim Lee|Johann Posch|Kari Castle|Manfred Ruhmer|Mark Poustinchian|Paris Williams|record|Steve Elkins|Wills Wing

Curt Warren|David Glover|Gary Wirdnam|Ghostbuster|Josef "Zwecki" Zweckmayr|Manfred Ruhmer|Mark Poustinchian|record|Wills Wing

Curt Warren|David Glover|Flytec 4030|Gary Wirdnam|Ghostbuster|Josef "Zwecki" Zweckmayr|Manfred Ruhmer|Mark Poustinchian|record|Wills Wing

David Glover «david» writes:

Kroop/Flytec/Quest run the first $10,000+ meet in the USA. The money was well spread around to 15 competitors. It was extremely well run meet, especially for the largest meet in the US this year (more registered, more competitors). 

Class 1 
Place Competitor Glider Nation Total Prize $ 

1 RUHMER, Manfred Icaro Laminar MR AUT 3326 2000 
2 HEINRICHS, Gerolf Moyes Litespeed AUT 3229 1000 
3 SCHMITZ, Betinho Moyes Litespeed BRA 3136 900 
4 WILLIAMS, Paris Wills Wing Talon USA 2913 800 
5 ZWECKMAYR, Josef Icaro Laminar MR AUT 2718 700 
6 SUCHANEK, Thomas Moyes Litespeed CZE 2682 600 
7 HAZLETT, Brett Moyes Litespeed CAN 2633 500 
8 LEE, Jim Wills Wing Talon USA 2563 400 
9 WIRDNAM, Gary Aeros Combat GBR 2451 
10 CASTLE, Kari Moyes Litespeed USA 2428 

Class 2 
Place Competitor Glider Nation Total Prize $ 
1 PORTER, Brian Bright Star Swift USA 3828 700 
2 ELKINS, Steve AIR Atos GBR 3198 600 
3 STRAUB, Davis AIR Atos USA 3185 500 
4 POSCH, Johann AIR Atos AUT 2725 400 
5 BOWEN, Campbell Ghostbuster USA 2637 300 
6 HUPPERT, Michael AIR Atos CHE 2635 
7 CAMPANELLA, Mario Ghostbuster BRA 2606 
8 JURG, Ris AIR Atos CHE 2600 
9 SHARP, David AIR Atos USA 2575 
10 YOCOM, Jim AIR Atos USA 2481 

In addition to the above prize money, Curt Warren was awarded the "Best New Competitor" and $300. Chris Zimerman was awarded the "Most Improved Competitor" and $300. Mark Poustinchian was awarded a brand new Flytec 4030 GPS Access flight computer complete with instrument pod and $225 (a dollar for each mile) for breaking the East Coast Hang Gliding record. This puts the cash prizes at $10,225 and total prizes at $12, 965 for the 2001 Flytec Championship.

Competitive comparisons

Mon, Apr 30 2001, 2:00:02 pm EDT

carbon fiber|Dave Sharp|Florida|Ghostbuster|Hansjoerg Truttmann|Jim Lee|Jim Yocom|Johann Posch|Manfred Ruhmer|Mark "Gibbo" Gibson|Mark Gibson|Mike Barber|Paris Williams|Wills Wing

carbon fiber|Dave Sharp|Florida|Ghostbuster|Hansjoerg Truttmann|Jim Lee|Jim Yocom|Johann Posch|John "Ole" Olson|Manfred Ruhmer|Mark "Gibbo" Gibson|Mark Gibson|Mike Barber|Paris Williams|Wills Wing

(?-i)John "Ole" Olson|carbon fiber|Dave Sharp|Florida|Ghostbuster|Hansjoerg Truttmann|Jim Lee|Jim Yocom|Johann Posch|Manfred Ruhmer|Mark "Gibbo" Gibson|Mark Gibson|Mike Barber|Paris Williams|Wills Wing

carbon fiber|Dave Sharp|Florida|Ghostbuster|Hansjoerg Truttmann|Jim Lee|Jim Yocom|Johann Posch|John "Ole" Olson|Manfred Ruhmer|Mark "Gibbo" Gibson|Mark Gibson|Mike Barber|Paris Williams|Wills Wing

If we take the Swift out of the mix, I placed second and third at the Florida meets. As there were between 25 and 30 rigid wing pilots at these meets, one might think that I did reasonably well and perhaps wonder how I was able to finish ahead of many of these other pilots.

After the last round of competitions in Australia I provided a critique of all the top pilots. I got to see them everyday for almost 25 days of competition. Here in Florida, we only had ten days of competition, and on a number of days, the rigid wing pilots flew separately from the flex wing pilots. Still I will have a few things to say.

Only a couple of rigid wing hang glider pilots made an effort to reduce the drag on their hang glider. Only Hansjoerg, Dave Sharp, Johann Posch, Jim Yocom and one Ghostbuster pilot flew with reduced or eliminated wires. I was unable to get a 2mm set from Icaro and did not feel comfortable putting on my 1.5 mm set, even though I saw Manfred's 1.5 mm front and back wires. 2mm wires are required for the worlds.

Jim Yocom greatly benefited from the reduced drag of his ATOS and his performance gain from last year reflected his improved glider performance. All the other pilots mentioned (other than the Ghostbuster pilot) did well, so it seems that their attention to this detail paid off.

I replaced my standard downtubes with downtubes that had less drag. I actually kept changing to get the least draggy downtubes on by the end of the second meet. Hansjoerg and Jim Yocom also used low drag down tubes.

My Wills Wing Slip Stream downtubes were toed in at 8 degrees. They should have been toed in at 12 degrees to get the maximum reduction in drag. Hansjoerg's were toed in at 15 degrees, which is the optimal value for his control frame configuration.

Many of the rigid wing hang glider pilots flew with aerodynamically shaped carbon fiber (or steel) base tubes. Those who didn't paid for the additional drag with a lower placing on the scores. A number of pilots flew with wheels, which increased their drag.

Hansjoerg is a big guy. He flies with built in and additional ballast. This is Mark Gibson's old trick. Dave Sharp weighs 145 pounds. He flies with 65 pounds of ballast. I flew with 22 pounds of ballast, which brings me up to Hansjoerg's weight without his additional ballast.

Ballast is a big item. Your sink rate is decreased at higher speeds if you use ballast. We flew a lot at high speeds. Pilots without ballast suffered.

I pulled out the cords that pull down the flaps and replaced them with luff line. The luff line wires are much thinner and reduce drag.

I tightened the sail. Tightening the ATOS sail decreases its drag and decreases bar pressure. I kept the sail tension high throughout the meets by continuing to adjust the ribs.

I added a carbon fiber extension to the outboard leading edge of the ATOS. This is a thick piece that doesn't deform like the Mylar that comes with the ATOS. It is much thicker than the new carbon fiber extensions that will be available from Icaro to upgrade the ATOS.

Dave Sharp and I flew with carbon fiber harnesses. This has been Jim Lee's trick for years. While other pilots flew with slick looking harnesses, ours may be better. Hansjoerg had a new harness.

We can't discount experience. In general, I have a lot more experience flying the ATOS and flying it in Florida (although not this year – it is raining at the moment). Experience doesn't seem to be an issue for Hansjoerg, but it sure help Dave.

I made fewer mistakes then I did in Australia (but then I had fewer days within which to make mistakes). Still I think that the overall rate was down. I remembered that the competition was against the other pilots, and I just needed to beat them, and not the whole world. While I had no problems going out in front, I would go back if someone found lift.

So what about other pilots? I got to fly a bit with Hansjoerg. When he added the winglets his performance was equal to Dave Sharp's and mine. Hansjoerg made one error and we were able to beat him to goal by a long ways.

On the next day, Hansjoerg was smarter than Dave or I and held back one 15 minute interval. He could then use us to catch us. He used his extra performance to them beat us (remember his has the control frame).

Hansjoerg won the first day by finding a thermal that Dave and I didn't go back to get. This got him on top and soon out front. He was able to capitalize on this lead to get to goal first. On the second day, Hansjoerg starts behind us and uses pilots in front of him to get to goal quicker.

Overall, Hansjoerg started later on a couple of days when this was possible, had a higher performance glider, had additional ballast, and is a patient and smart pilot.

Manfred obviously flew well in both meets. I had the opportunity to fly with him on many occasions and got to see what he was up to. He almost always had a gaggle with him and he was almost always able to dominate the gaggle, by staying high.

He can climb well and has superior performance from his glider, a Laminar MRX 2001. He is willing to lead, but there is no desire to get out too far in front. He uses the gaggle and realizes that he is competing against pilots in the lead gaggle. As long as he is on top, even a little bit, this is enough.

On numerous occasions I would go out front either first or right with Manfred. Manfred was quite willing to leave lift if it slowed down too much. Often though, we hung back a bit when we should have left earlier as the lift slowed down.

Manfred often gets just a little bit higher and then works this advantage. Sometimes he is able to get away from the gaggle when things get tough and it breaks up.

Paris Williams did quite well relative to how well he did in Australia. He said that the other pilots just followed Manfred around and that he sometimes found a better line and followed that. The performance of his glider has improved since Australia. He can out glide Tomas and Mike Barber, which wasn't true there, but not Betinho. I wonder if ballast is an issue here. Paris is quite light and Betinho flies with considerable ballast, as do Gerolf and Manfred.

Obviously Manfred's Laminar is a superior glider. It is hard to say how close the Litespeed and the Talon are to it. Other Laminars did well also, so you know that it isn't just Manfred's special one.

Not a single flex wing had a problem flying in Florida, and at times we had some chunky air. Seems like they aren't making the flex wings unsafe in order to get the best performance. The rigid wing pilots have a long way to go to get the best performance from their gliders.

Wallaby Open – no task today.

Wed, Apr 25 2001, 4:00:00 pm EDT

Chris Arai|Gary Wirdnam|Ghostbuster|Hansjoerg Truttmann|Manfred Ruhmer|Peter Gray|Wallaby Open 2001|Wills Wing

Chris Arai|Davis Straub|Gary Wirdnam|Ghostbuster|Hansjoerg Truttmann|Manfred Ruhmer|Peter Gray|Wallaby Open 2001|Wills Wing

Aeros Combat|Chris Arai|Davis Straub|Gary Wirdnam|Ghostbuster|Hansjoerg Truttmann|Manfred Ruhmer|Peter Gray|Wallaby Open 2001|Wills Wing

Aeros Combat|Brian Porter|Chris Arai|Davis Straub|Gary Wirdnam|Ghostbuster|Hansjoerg Truttmann|Manfred Ruhmer|Peter Gray|Wallaby Open 2001|Wills Wing

Aeros Combat|Brian Porter|Chris Arai|Davis Straub|Gary Wirdnam|Ghostbuster|Hansjoerg Truttmann|Manfred Ruhmer|Peter Gray|Steve Elkins|Wallaby Open 2001|Wills Wing

Aeros Combat|Brian Porter|Chris Arai|Davis Straub|Gary Wirdnam|Ghostbuster|Hansjoerg Truttmann|Manfred Ruhmer|Paris Williams|Peter Gray|Steve Elkins|Wallaby Open 2001|Wills Wing

Aeros Combat|Brian Porter|Chris Arai|Davis Straub|Gary Wirdnam|Ghostbuster|Hansjoerg Truttmann|Manfred Ruhmer|Oleg Bondarchuk|Paris Williams|Peter Gray|Steve Elkins|Wallaby Open 2001|Wills Wing

Aeros Combat|Brian Porter|Chris Arai|Davis Straub|Gary Wirdnam|Ghostbuster|Hansjoerg Truttmann|Manfred Ruhmer|Oleg Bondarchuk|Paris Williams|Peter Gray|Steve Elkins|Wallaby Open 2001|Wills Wing

Chris Arai|Gary Wirdnam|Ghostbuster|Hansjoerg Truttmann|Josef "Zwecki" Zweckmayr|Manfred Ruhmer|Peter Gray|Wallaby Open 2001|Wills Wing

The front is here. The sky is completely overcast, but the sun is bright in the background and the sky is milky white and bright.

While there is no flying today, Peter Gray can fix the problems the scorekeeping and get out the results.

Class I:

Third day results:

1

HEINRICH, Gerolf

MOYES Litespeed

AUT

03:34:33

1000

2

RUHMER, Manfred

Icaro MRX2001

AUT

03:43:20

925

3

WILLIAMS, Paris

Wills Wing Talon

USA

03:45:09

911

4

ZWECKMAYR, Josef

Icaro Laminar ST14

AUT

03:46:38

899

5

SUCHANEK, Tomas

MOYES Litespeed

CZE

03:46:51

894

6

WOLF, Andre

Icaro Laminar

BRA

03:47:10

889

7

ROTOR, Nene

MOYES Litespeed 4

BRA

03:54:04

828

8

SCHMIDT, Betinho

MOYES Litespeed 4

BRA

03:54:08

825

9

MOREIRA, Lincoln

Icaro Laminar Mrx 14

BRA

04:02:42

824

10

ARAI, Chris

Wills Wing Talon

USA

04:05:30

811

Cumulative:

1

RUHMER, Manfred

Icaro MRX2001

AUT

2772

2

HEINRICH, Gerolf

MOYES Litespeed

AUT

2692

3

SUCHANEK, Tomas

MOYES Litespeed

CZE

2595

4

REISINGER, Robert

Icaro Laminar 14ST

AUT

2451

5

WILLIAMS, Paris

Wills Wing Talon

USA

2394

6

SCHMIDT, Betinho

MOYES Litespeed 4

BRA

2347

7

MOREIRA, Lincoln

Icaro Laminar Mrx 14

BRA

2334

8

ARAI, Chris

Wills Wing Talon

USA

2262

9

BONDERCHUK, Oleg

AEROS Stealth Combat 14

UKR

2216

10

WIRDNAM, Gary

Aeros Combat

GBR

2183

Notice how well Paris is doing on the new Wills Wing Talon. Chris Arai is doing well also. Will Gerolf have a chance to over take Manfred. He was forced by circumstances to take a different path than Manfred and Tomas yesterday. He raced faster when he thought he was behind after he got low, only to slow down when he found out that he was ahead.

Looks like Oleg is doing well. There seem to be quite a variety of top topless gliders in this meet and all are performing well.

Class II:

Day 3 results:

1

PORTER, Brian

BRIGHT Star Swift 135

USA

03:12:58

981

2

Straub, Davis

A-I-R Atos

USA

03:44:20

785

3

SHARP, Dave

A-I-R Atos

USA

03:45:15

771

4

ELKINS, Steve

A-I-R Atos

GBR

03:56:22

721

5

TRUTTMANN, Hansjorg

A-I-R Atos

CHE

04:25:02

653

Cumulative:

1

PORTER, Brian

BRIGHT Star Swift 135

USA

2269

2

TRUTTMANN, Hansjorg

A-I-R Atos

CHE

2091

3

SHARP, Dave

A-I-R Atos

USA

1959

4

STRAUB, Davis

A-I-R Atos

USA

1847

5

ELKINS, Steve

A-I-R Atos

GBR

1746

ATOSes currently hold positions 2 through 11. The first rigid wing hang glider other than an ATOS is Diego Bussinger (the world"><spans Class II number one ranked pilot) in at Ghostbuster in fifteenth.

Full results (when available) at www.wallaby.com.

Discuss "Wallaby Open – no task today." at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Wallaby Open – we circle the square

Tue, Apr 24 2001, 5:00:00 pm EDT

Aeros Combat|Belinda Boulter|Brian Porter|Chris Arai|Dave Sharp|Gary Osoba|Gary Wirdnam|Ghostbuster|Hansjoerg Truttmann|J.C. Brown|Jim Yocum|Johann Posch|Josef "Zwecki" Zweckmayr|Manfred Ruhmer|Paris Williams|Quest Air|Steve Elkin|Steve Elkins|Wallaby Open 2001|Wallaby Ranch

Today we played in the Green Swamp. A ninety-five mile task with three turnpoints that were supposed to keep us out of the worst parts of the Green Swamp. Still, that is where we go to have our fun.

The first day at Wallaby Ranch.

The flex wing pilots have been complaining about the rigid wing pilots. The meet director is setting the start times for the rigid wings first with the last start time shared with the flex wings. The flex wing pilots are complaining that Manfred just goes first and uses the rigid wings to go fast when they glide and then sits on top of them in thermals. The other flex wing pilots want to make it so Manfred can't keep using the rigid wings.

The meet director, JC Brown, decides to spilt the classes, with the rigid wing pilots doing the task counter clockwise and the flex wings clockwise. The task is Wallaby Ranch, to Quest Air to Cheryl airstrip to the Intersection of 98 and 301 and back to the Ranch. The reverse for the flex wings.

The forecast for the day looks great. Here is what Gary Osoba reports:

Probably the best day I've seen unless the moisture transport from the Atlantic is more saturated than what is shown. Good looking sounding, good looking wind stack with honest southeast winds feeding into a convergence line which should form through the middle of the state and extend into southeastern Georgia. Moisture profiles in the boundary layer show lots of latent heat adding to the lift. Thermals should be very strong but not violent. Well organized, powerful climbs. Lots of clouds. A real day for racing.

The start window opens at 1:15 and closes at 2:15 for both groups. It looks like an early start might be the ticket given the length of the task. Pilots are still a bit reluctant to get into position to launch, so pilots are still launching after the second start time.

The hot pilots in the flex wing category take the 1:15 start time. A few rigid wing pilots, including the Swift, take the 1:30 clock. Hansjoerg, Dave Sharp, Jim Yocum, Diego Bussinger, and I take the 1:45 start. We are half an hour behind the flex wing guys, but going the opposite direction.

The sky is full of cumulus clouds and there is plenty of vertical development. The sounding shows that it won't go high enough to over develop except in isolated cases. The six of us are gliding together and starting from cloud base. After three miles Diego in a Ghostbuster is quite a bit below the ATOS pilots (the rest of us).

While it is a cakewalk to Quest Air for Dave, Hansjoerg and I, I hear that 1/3rd of the rigid wing pilots go down on this first leg. We are lucky to get the timing right. We scrape off Diego and Jim and pick up an ATOS pilot from the earlier gaggle at Quest.

It is a 15-mile leg to Cheryl to the northwest. Six miles out from Cheryl we spot Brian flying straight to the turnpoint just over us, but quite a bit higher. Maybe we'll catch him.

We approach the turnpoint down below 3,000' and I scoot under a cloud street just before the turnpoint that turns out to be barely working. Hansjoerg is lower and not getting up. Dave and I are barely climbing.

Hansjoerg is trying the ATOS winglets on today. They seem to negatively effect his performance. We have no trouble gliding with him.

Suddenly we lose GPS coverage. We won’t be able to get the turnpoint if it doesn't return soon. Heck, we can't even find the turnpoint as we don't have an arrow to follow.

After a few minutes of weak climb, the GPS coverage returns and Dave and I can get to the turnpoint. We should have gone there first as there was a thermal there out in the sunlight and not under the clouds. We've scraped off Hansjoerg.

As we climb out at the turnpoint the flex wings start diving at us coming in from the south. Looks like there has been good lift along their flight path. Dave and I head out and find good lift all the way to the next turnpoint 25 miles to the south. We are on our own high over the Green Swamp.

Making the turnpoint south of Dade City and getting up at the west side of the Green Swamp, we are sitting pretty at over 6,000' and at cloud base. We now have to cross the Green Swamp going east for ten miles. It turns out to be one long glide with no lift over the Swamp.

We get so low that Dave drains the ballast from his ballast tanks. He's down below 1,500'just as we get to the east edge of the swamp.

I've been watching a cloud just to the north of our line and I find a little bit of lift under it and call Dave over. We climb out to cloud base 17 miles from Wallaby.

There is pretty much of a cloud street back to Wallaby and we just take it home.

We've been getting reports all along from Belinda at goal. The flex wing pilots who started much earlier are coming into goal (Of course, Brian is there long before anyone. This will completely screw up the scoring for rigid wing hang gliders by devaluing their times to goal and not putting much differentiating between other rigid wing pilots.)

Gerolf will win the day by 9 minutes. I remember seeing him launch early. He was on a mission.

Paris Williams will blast around the trees to come in low and fast for third for the day.

Having jettisoned his ballast Dave comes in a little behind me. Much later Steve Elkins makes it, then much later Hansjoerg, and finally just as goal closes Michael Hubert comes in. Another all ATOS finish at goal.

A total of 27 pilots make goal (much better on the goal crew after 73 yesterday).

Here are the preliminary results (I pull these off the goal keepers time sheets, so I'm unsure of the pilot's start time):

Class I:

Gerolf – Litespeed
Manfred – Laminar
Paris – Talon
Zwecky – Laminar
Tomas – Litespeed
Andre – Laminar
Chris Arai – Talon
Nene – Litespeed
Betinho – Litespeed
Reisinger – Laminar

Class II:

Brian – Swift
Davis – ATOS
Dave Sharp – ATOS
Elkins – ATOS
Hansjoerg – ATOS

Second day results:

Class I:

1

Ruhmer, Manfred

Icaro MRX2001

AUT

01:46:22

887

2

RAEMY, Kilian

MOYES Litespeed 4

CHE

01:44:00

863

3

SCHMIDT, Betinho

MOYES Litespeed 4

BRA

01:49:46

843

4

SUCHANEK, Tomas

MOYES Litespeed

CZE

01:49:47

841

5

HEINRICH, Gerolf

MOYES Litespeed

AUT

01:49:58

836

6

WIRDNAM, Gary

Aeros Combat

GBR

01:45:20

830

7

ROTOR, Nene

MOYES Litespeed 4

BRA

01:50:44

826

7

WOLF, Andre

Icaro Laminar

BRA

01:50:44

826

9

MOREIRA, Lincoln

Icaro Laminar Mrx 14

BRA

01:51:24

814

10

REISINGER, Robert

Icaro Laminar 14ST

AUT

01:52:06

805

Class II:

1

PORTER, Brian

BRIGHT Star Swift 135

USA

01:26:56

756

2

TRUTTMANN, Hansjorg

A-I-R Atos

CHE

01:45:39

590

3

MEIER, Richard

A-I-R Atos

CHE

01:49:58

532

4

YOCOM, Jim

A-I-R Atos

USA

01:51:38

521

5

SHARP, Dave

A-I-R Atos

USA

02:01:14

514

5

POSCH, Johann

A-I-R Atos 140

AUT

02:01:14

514

Full results (when available) at www.wallaby.com.

Bassano results

Sun, Apr 22 2001, 5:00:03 pm EDT

Bassano del Grappa|Davis Straub|Ghostbuster|Lukas Etz|Manfred Ruhmer|Oliver Barthelmes|USHGA

Lukas Etz «Lukas.Etz» sends in the results of the much reduced Bassano get together (German, Swiss, and Austrian pilots):

Class I:

1 Baier, Bob Moyes Litespeed Deu 1621
2 Salvenmoser, Seppi Icaro Laminar 13 Mrx 2001 Aut 1589
3 Schweier, Georg Aeros Stealth Deu 1249
4 Barthelmes, Oliver Moyes Litespeed 5 Deu 1229
5 Djamarani, Andre Icaro Laminar St Deu 1142

Class II:

1 Hoffmann-Guben, Marcus Flight Design Ghostbuster Deu 1314
2 Raumauf, Toni Air Atos Aut 1212
3 Nadlinger, Arnold Air Atos Aut 1110
4 Miederhoff, Ralf Air Atos Deu 1103
5 Trimmel, Manfred Air Atos Aut 1099

Discuss "Bassano results" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Wallaby Open – Day one

Sun, Apr 22 2001, 5:00:00 pm EDT

Dave Sharp|Florida|Ghostbuster|Hansjoerg Truttmann|Jim Lee|Manfred Ruhmer|Quest Air|Robert Reisinger|Steve Elkin|Steve Elkins|Wallaby Open 2001|Wallaby Ranch|Wills Wing

Dave Sharp|Florida|Ghostbuster|Hansjoerg Truttmann|Jim Lee|Jim Yocum|Manfred Ruhmer|Quest Air|Robert Reisinger|Steve Elkin|Steve Elkins|Wallaby Open 2001|Wallaby Ranch|Wills Wing

I think Wallaby Ranch got a little overwhelmed today. With 110 pilots, more than were there at the far larger Quest Air (known down here at Sheets Airfield), and a strong east wind, the organization fell to pieces. Thankfully the pieces were big enough to keep functioning and we had a great day (well, I don't know if everyone did).

First, the winds, right smack dab out of the east again just like yesterday and just as strong if not stronger (over 15 mph on the ground and 20 mph above). It sure is nice that they came with a sky full of clouds because then the pilots were rip roaring ready to go. Didn't matter that there were significant rotors coming off the tree line to the east. Let's get in the air.

I can't remember when the winds in Florida went east and stayed that way and stayed strong. Usually they just clock around to the south after an east day. Still the east winds came with a topical component, with warm temperatures and lots of moisture (well, a bit too much mid level moisture).

The moisture in the air made for a few too many clouds that often cut off the sunlight and heat to the ground. This made for quite a few relaunches today.

The launch setup going to the east is not the greatest here at Wallaby and chaos reigned today with not enough time between the pilot's meeting and the opening of the launch window. Finally the launch window got moved back an hour, but the start windows only got moved back ½ hour. The squeeze was on.

The rigids were scheduled to have a separate early start window, which would give the tug pilots extra time to get everyone in the air. Good idea. Then the interval between the last rigid wing start window and the first flex wing start window got erased so that the flex wing pilots who wanted to leave on their earliest clock with the final clock of the rigids could.

When everything got moved back, suddenly all the top flex wing pilots wanted to fly with the rigid wing pilots who would take their last clock. The flex wing pilots didn't want to gamble on a late clock at 3 PM. Way late! Besides, go with the rigids and go fast, I say.

The tows out of Wallaby were not that bad given the strong winds. Only a few pilots had too wild a time and no one did any damage to themselves or their glider. I was in line early wanting to avoid any problems on the ground.

I pinned off early in moderate lift, which actually was weak lift, but it turned out that this was relatively good lift. I worked 100-200 fpm for a long time, and all those gliders who were upwind of me, and looked to be in a better position, came and joined me. This took us to cloud base.

Now we had to play the start clock game of waiting until 2:30, the rigids last start clock. Many pilots were low and landing back at Wallaby, adding to the general chaos. I did not want to get back on the ground.

The space ship was zooming around low like a one winged fly looking for the honey. I hear tell that he had three launches. Many pilots had to relaunch.

Soon a few rigid wing pilots and the top flex wing pilots were hanging five miles from the Ranch waiting at cloud base, at 5,400', for the bell to sound. When it did they seemed to hold back, but I was out the start gate alone and on glide to the sunny patches to the west. Wow, we were going down wind, what a concept.

All the flex wing did decide to go after all, and with Tomas just behind me and Manfred low to the north with Dave Sharp we were racing. Of course, it was fast to the first turnpoint, 18 miles to the west and downwind. We really only stopped for the good stuff. Manfred joined us and we had Robert Reisinger, Tomas, Gerolf, Jim Lee, Hansjoerg Truttmann, and a few others.

With lots of shadow we had to work a weak one at the turnpoint at 471-98 intersection on the south side of the Green Swamp. The goal was 42 miles to the north, northwest at Inverness. The gaggle started heading straight north, right up 471, right through the middle of the Green Swamp. We were plenty high, so there was no problem with landing. Besides, it you got low you could just blow downwind to the open fields west of the swamp.

Hansjoerg was a bit below us and behind. I noticed that he started to circle in some lift, but I went forward with Manfred, Tomas, Robert and Jim. Big mistake, as this was a strong thermal and a few pilots got up very quickly. Hansjoerg and another rigid (probably Steve Elkins who took an earlier start time) get high and went out in front.

The apparent cloud streets set up again perpendicular to the winds. We were running a street that went straight to the goal. With all the extra moisture many of the clouds are not working.

Dave Sharp and I run for a long ways watching Manfred and Tomas stay high along the street. We can see Hansjoerg turning ahead after a long glide, but there is no way to get to him. Finally we have to fade off to the left into the sun over the open areas. We are rewarded with strong lift and get up with Jim Yocum in an ATOS.

The rest of the lead gaggle is now left behind. Many of the early and fast pilots get stuck just to the east of us on the west side of the Green Swamp in a slow thermal as we rocket out of there to cloud base at 6,000.' Hansjoerg is still ahead as are Gerolf, Manfred, Tomas and probably Reisinger whom we've lost.

There are plenty of clouds and plenty of forests between us and goal, but from cloud base we dive into the a blue area and have to find more lift in the clouds on the other side. Thank goodness for plenty of sun to heat the ground and clouds to show the lift. Many other pilots are way behind us going down close to Wallaby, not even making the first turnpoint. Lift behind us is quite weak.

Dave and I have to make one run upwind to get under a cloud and then from 13 miles out it is final glide time. The winds have died down, just as predicted near the west coast where the east winds were expected to be reduced by the on-shore sea breeze. It is possible to head straight north without bucking too much of a quartering head wind.

We make it to goal quickly and are happy to be there. Hansjoerg beats Manfred into goal by a couple of minutes although they both started their final glides from the same spot with Manfred higher.

After multiple launches, Brian gets to goal way behind many of the ATOSes. No Ghostbusters or Stalkers at goal today. Greg Dinaur makes it in on his faired, but uncanopied, Millennium. We are all happy to see him.

Betinho is a bit late. Paris comes low and fast as usual, although he doesn't touch the goal line with his hand. All the Wills Wing pilots made it to goal.

Class I:

Manfred - Icaro Laminar
Jim Lee - WW Talon
Tomas - Moyes Litespeed
Gerolf - Moyes Litespeed
Reisinger - Icaro Laminar

Class II:

Hansjoerg _ ATOS
Elkins - ATOS
Sharp - ATOS
Yocum - ATOS
Straub - ATOS

There were 42 pilots at goal. The task at 66 miles and took Hansjoerg less than two hours.

Full results (when available) at www.wallaby.com.

Discuss "Wallaby Open – Day one" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Flytec Championships – Round Three »

Thu, Apr 19 2001, 5:30:00 pm EDT

Brett Hazlett|Brian Porter|Christof Kratzner|Dave Sharp|Davis Straub|Florida|Flytec Championships|Ghostbuster|Jim Lee|Johann Posch|Kari Castle|Manfred Ruhmer|Mike Barber|Oleg Bondarchuck|Robert Reisinger|Steve Elkin|Steve Elkins|Tomas Suchanek|USHGA

Brett Hazlett|Brian Porter|Bruce Barmakian|Christof Kratzner|Dave Sharp|Davis Straub|Florida|Flytec Championships|Ghostbuster|Jim Lee|Johann Posch|Kari Castle|Manfred Ruhmer|Mike Barber|Oleg Bondarchuck|Robert Reisinger|Steve Elkin|Steve Elkins|Tomas Suchanek|USHGA

Brett Hazlett|Brian Porter|Bruce Barmakian|Christof Kratzner|Dave Sharp|Davis Straub|Florida|Flytec Championships|Ghostbuster|Jim Lee|Johann Posch|Kari Castle|Manfred Ruhmer|Mike Barber|Robert Reisinger|Steve Elkin|Steve Elkins|Tomas Suchanek|USHGA

Brett Hazlett|Brian Porter|Bruce Barmakian|Christof Kratzner|Dave Sharp|Davis Straub|Florida|Flytec Championships|Ghostbuster|Jim Lee|Johann Posch|Kari Castle|Manfred Ruhmer|Mike Barber|Oleg Bondarchuck|Oleg Bondarchuk|Robert Reisinger|Steve Elkin|Steve Elkins|Tomas Suchanek|USHGA

Brett Hazlett|Brian Porter|Bruce Barmakian|Christof Kratzner|Dave Sharp|Davis Straub|Florida|Flytec Championships|Ghostbuster|Jim Lee|Johann Posch|Kari Castle|Manfred Ruhmer|Mike Barber|Oleg Bondarchuck|Oleg Bondarchuk|Robert Reisinger|Steve Elkin|Steve Elkins|Tomas Suchanek|USHGA

Clouds, we don't need no stinking cumulus clouds.

The forecast is for lighter winds out of the east. The winds below 3,500' are predicted to be less than 10 mph, and between 15 and 20 mph above to 6,000' (the height of the thermals).

The list is forecasted to be strong, getting a bit weaker above 4,500'. It turns out that the ground temperature is again higher than forecasted (79 instead of 75), so the lift is even better than predicted.

The task committee calls a shorter task after our 92 miler the day before. We are concerned that it may be a bit difficult going cross wind, so we only call a 48 miler built of two legs of a triangle. We are afraid to have us come back to Quest into the forecasted head wind.

 

Everyone waits around on the ground even though the launch window has opened at 12:30, only a few pilots take off before 1:15. The start window opens at 1 and stops at 2 PM. The Quest ground crew and the multitude of tugs and trikes get 106 pilots into the air in 46 minutes. This just goes to show that given the tug resources one can have a very substantial tow meet and still give everyone a chance to compete in the same air mass.

I get off at 1:15 and find the lift to be smooth and strong. It is unbelievable to be in these high-pressure conditions with the northern influence and still have that nice Florida air.

We all climb up to just under 6,000' with the last 1,500' in light lift. A hundred pilots are buzzing about high not going up or down much all waiting for the 2 PM start time. Thank goodness we are using a start circle and don't have to put everyone through a smaller start gate.

I find a nice patch of lift at 1:57 and climb high a few tenths of a mile from the start circle circumference (4 mile radius for the start circle). I edge closer and closer and at 6 seconds after 2 PM, I'm high and out on the course in front of a hundred glider gaggle.

There is no glory in this as there are five pilots already out on the course line from the 1:45 PM start time and it is easy to see that there is plenty of lift ahead for us.

I find the first thermal and all my friends get friendly. Brian Porter takes the next lead and I follow him. It is good to see him out in front, even if we do have earlier pilots in front of us.

Brian finds good lift and after climbing a bit I go out in front and blow through the earlier pilots not even bothering to stop in the light lift they are working. There may not be any thermal markers ahead, but the history of the day so far, says that the lift is good and it is time to race.

I follow a left line while the pilots behind hew a bit to the right. Dave Sharp and Manfred are behind me and we find a strong one that gets us higher than the twenty pilots to our right. We are already half way to the turnpoint 26 miles out. We are staying high, hitting good climbs and racing. Everyone is buzzing.

There is not need to stop on the rest of the way to the turnpoint at Coleman. I get there first and find a strong thermal right at the turnpoint. I'm sure to get the turnpoint on my track log.

A bunch of pilots seem to miss this thermal and head south. I bank up and watch as I climb. Brian Porter again takes the lead and moves to the west. Other pilots hang back and take a more easterly line.

I give chase not wanting to lose the fastest pilots. The guys on the left hit something and Brian comes back. I fly to them also but just as I get there, Gerolf, Betinho and Manfred leave at my altitude and I go with them.

I veer off to the right as we spread out to use each other to help find the next thermal. I get it first and it is a rocket ship. We are less than twenty miles from goal.

Heiner Beisel in his ATOS and I head out first with Dave Sharp nearby. We are still in hunt mode and looking for the last thermal that we need before we have go on final glide to goal.

We glide for a few miles before I begin to feel something over Bushell. I have to search around to find the core. Dave finds it above me just before I do and we are off to the races.

This is a strong thermal and the pilots behind quickly join in it. Manfred and Dave Sharp are above me and this looks like it. Brian Porter has already left for goal.

Dave is 600' over Manfred and leaves first. Manfred is 30 seconds behind him. I leave as soon as I see Dave go even though he is quite a bit higher. My Brauniger says go.

We take a ten mile final glide. It is great to have Dave and Manfred just in front of me as I can see when they hit lift and know to keep up the speed and keep going.

Dave crosses the goal line at 3:30 on the nose (for an average speed of 32 mph). Manfred is 32 seconds behind him. I'm 48 seconds behind Manfred. Betinho comes in under me five seconds later.

The task is over much too quickly. Manfred and Gerolf circle back up at the goal and fly back to Quest. Guess we should have called that as part of the task.

Results for the day:

Class II:

Porter – Swift
Sharp – ATOS
Straub – ATOS
Mullholland – fully-faired Millennium
Ris Jurg – ATOS
Richard Meyer – ATOS

(yesterday, 7 ATOSes made goal before the first Ghostbuster came in -flown by the current World Champion, Christof Kratzner. Diego Bussinger, the current top ranked rigid wing pilot, came in right after him on a GB. Christof won the World championship on an ATOS. Diego accumulated his scores for the top ranking on an ATOS. Today, six ATOSes came in first before Diego came in on his Ghostbuster. Bruce Barmakian was 9th on the Stalker.)

Class I:

Manfred – Laminar
Betinho – Litespeed
Gerolf – Litespeed
Reisinger – Laminar
Tomas – Litespeed

(It was good to see Tomas Suchanek getting better and better each day as he gets a little practice. The world's top ranked pilot, Oleg Bondarchuck, hasn't been placing as well as his ranking would indicate he should. Mike Barber did much better in Australia than he is doing here in his home state. Robert Reisinger had a few GPS troubles - overwrote his track log at the start circle yesterday. )

Overall:

Class II:

Porter - Swift
Sharp - ATOS
Straub - ATOS
Johann Posch – ATOS
Steve Elkins – ATOS

Class I:

Manfred – Laminar
Gerolf – Litespeed
Betinho – Litespeed
Brett Hazlett – Litespeed
Jim Lee – Talon

Jim is flying very well as is Kari Castle on her Litespeed. It sure looks like she is going to keep her place on the US National Team.

Complete results will at some point be updated at www.flytec.com.

Flytec Championships – Round Two »

Wed, Apr 18 2001, 3:00:00 pm EDT

Brian Porter|Dave Sharp|Davis Straub|Florida|Flytec Championships|Ghostbuster|Manfred Ruhmer|Quest Air|record

Bobby Bailey|Brian Porter|Dave Sharp|Davis Straub|Florida|Flytec Championships|Ghostbuster|Manfred Ruhmer|Quest Air|record

Bobby Bailey|Brian Porter|Bruce Barmakian|Dave Sharp|Davis Straub|Florida|Flytec Championships|Ghostbuster|Manfred Ruhmer|Quest Air|record

Bobby Bailey|Brian Porter|Bruce Barmakian|Dave Sharp|Davis Straub|Florida|Flytec Championships|Ghostbuster|Manfred Ruhmer|Oleg Bondarchuk|Quest Air|record

Bobby Bailey|Brian Porter|Bruce Barmakian|Dave Sharp|Davis Straub|Florida|Flytec Championships|Ghostbuster|Manfred Ruhmer|Oleg Bondarchuk|Quest Air|record

Record low temperatures in Florida today. The north wind really turned north (and east) and brought down the temperatures from the cold north. I had to put long pants and a long sleeve shirt. Still going without shoes though.

The charts show a 15-mph wind pretty consistent in strength and direction all the way up to the top of the thermals. It is supposed to back off a little in the afternoon.

With such cold air, any sun on the ground should be warm enough to cause thermal activity. The sounding shows great thermals if we get to 70 degrees.

I'm very excited about the forecast for strong thermals, but it is going to be a blue day. The thermals stop long before the due point temperature is reached. I encourage pilots to ignore the lack of cumulus clouds and realize that there will be good lift anyway. They will also get quite cold at the top of the lift if they haven't bundled up.

The task committee, infused with the ideas of strong winds and strong lift, call a big task – 92 miles. With the data showing that the lift will happen after it heats up later in the afternoon and the forecast for somewhat lighter winds later in the afternoon, they also call for a late start gate – between 2 and 3 PM.

So now we've got a long task and a lot of incentive to wait until 3 PM to start the task. Wow!

It turns out that almost everyone waits until 3 PM and the day turns into a race. The guys in the first gaggle are winning the day.

Down on the ground, the crew at Quest Air is getting everyone into the air in a hurry. They do 130 launches in 50 minutes. It sure is great having 14 tugs operating at once with a ground crew that can help pilots get ready before the tug is pulled up.

This is really the way to run a big meet at a flight park – bring in a lot of tugs. Focus the ground crew on two lines with the tugs coming down the middle. Have a lot of carts.

Bobby Bailey ready to assemble sixteen new carts.

In the air we are only getting to 4,500' after I call the top of the lift at 6,500'. Still almost everyone gets up the first time in spite of the lack of thermal indicators.

At 3 PM the race is on and the idea is to leave the other guys behind. With a lot of hot pilots flying together, the front gaggle is fast and fully populated. There must be twenty pilots in it after we are twenty miles out.

The leaders keep pulling the gaggle, so you have to leave early if you want to stay with them. I started a bit late, so I had to catch the first gaggle over the first twenty miles, and I'm not near the top and not leading yet.

At thirty miles out I'm high in the gaggle, but not to the top yet. I notice a pilot going way out in front, downlow, and way up wind. I think that it is Manfred trying to get a way from the gaggle. I immediately follow leaving the lead gaggle behind.

It turns out to be Betinho trying for a break away. I catch him and we find good lift, but the gaggle now down wind of us finds better lift. We keep pushing up wind and are joined by four other flex wing pilots. All we need is a good thermal and we can jump ahead of the former lead gaggle.

I hit a boomer, the best one of the day and get the highest I'll get all day to 5,400'. I'm on top and in front and racing to the next thermal. The race is quickly down hill and within twenty minutes I find myself at 1,800' out in front with Manfred who is also low, sixty miles from the start. We search around for five minutes in less than 200 fpm. Finally, Oleg comes in under us, proceeds to fly a bit further to the south and shows the both of us 400 fpm. The gaggles are back together again.

After the big climb and then the big sink, the rates of climb mellow out and we work lots of lift at less than 300-fpm lift just to keep going. The lead gaggle is thinning out.

At twelve miles out Gerolf and I find ourselves out in front while the others hold back in light lift. We are searching for the next big one and hope to find it early enough to get a jump on everyone else.

I hit it, but Gerolf misses it and the guys behind me come my way. When I first find it, I try to keep the wings level so as not to flash the signal to everyone that this is really good lift. I want a couple of turns to myself before they all join me from over my head. Still they are right on me.

This thermal is good and we get to 4,400' right away. The race is on in the final glide. The first four into goal are as follows:

Brian Porter                 3 hours, 13 seconds

Manfred Ruhmer            3 hours, 4 minutes, 40 seconds.

Dave Sharp                  3 hours, 5 minutes, 3 seconds

Davis Straub                3 hours, 5 minutes, 17 seconds.

Thirty four pilots make goal. The ATOS pilots lead the way and we have to wait and wait for a Ghostbuster pilot. No Stalker pilots (there are two in the meet) make goal with Bruce Barmakian going down ten miles from goal. No ESC's at goal.

Complete results at www.flytec.com.

Class II – a bunch of tourists or right thinking guys?

Mon, Apr 16 2001, 5:00:01 pm EDT

carbon fiber|CIVL|Class 2|Ghostbuster|Jim Yocom|Johann Posch|photo|Wills Wing

carbon fiber|CIVL|Class 2|Ghostbuster|Jim Yocom|Johann Posch|John "Ole" Olson|photo|Wills Wing

(?-i)John "Ole" Olson|carbon fiber|CIVL|Class 2|Ghostbuster|Jim Yocom|Johann Posch|photo|Wills Wing

carbon fiber|CIVL|Class 2|Ghostbuster|Jim Yocom|Johann Posch|John "Ole" Olson|photo|Tim Denton|Wills Wing

carbon fiber|CIVL|Class 2|Ghostbuster|Jim Yocom|Jim Yocum|Johann Posch|John "Ole" Olson|photo|Tim Denton|Wills Wing

I had an opportunity to look over almost all of the rigid wing gliders that are entered into the Flytec Championship. I wasn't impressed with what I saw.

Many had round base tubes, often supplied with fat wheels. Only two gliders came with wires thinner than stock wires. One was a Ghostbuster with thin back and front wires and extra thick side wires (this is backwards, folks). The other was Johann Posch's ATOS that had the 2 mm competition set (front and back) from AIR, which is no longer available.

I have a 1.5 mm set that I haven’t placed on the glider (yet), so I was checking first to see if I had a lot of competition with thin wires. Looks like I didn't have to worry there.

Only one (maybe one other) rigid wing had superior downtubes. Jim Yocum came with Wills Wing down tubes, struts, no front wires, and a very tine aero base tube. Jim is doing much better than he has before.

On one hand you can say it is great that all these guys are here flying standard factory tuned gliders without any "dangerous" features like wires that can't take much abuse. On the other hand, leaving the wire issue aside, I didn't see many efforts at drag reduction.

Hey, guys, we've got a competition here. Not only are we competing against each other, but also against the fully faired space ships, and the really hot pilots in Class I. They guys are doing everything they can to reduce drag. You just aren't paying attention.

I personally favor wheels or skids, but I am using micro-skids this year in order to reduce drag. I would love to see a mandate for wheels, but can't afford the drag if they are not mandated.

I'd really like to have the 2 mm/1.5 mm wires from Icaro or AIR, but will have to go with my own 1.5 mm sets if it comes to that. I'd love to see everyone flying with at least 2 mm wires as mandated by CIVL.

I'm flying with an Aeros carbon fiber base tube. It feels great and I sure hope that it is performing well. I really have no idea. I'm assuming that it does, as that's what the hot pilots are using.

I'm also flying with Trampaneau down tubes. Not quite as good as the Wills Wing Slip Streams that Jim is using, but much better than the stock downtubes that almost everyone else has.

Felix's prototype ATOS with all the latest engineering updates is here, but won't be flown until next week at the Wallaby Open. I'll get some photos then, and we'll have an idea of how much difference the latest improvements make.

Tim Denton writes:

Thanks for the pictures of Jim Yocom's Rear strutted, WW down tubed Control Frame. We've had a non-cooperating winter here in Denver, so Jim's first flight on Wednesday was encouraging, when he reported a 118-mile personal best! He said the ergonomically designed base bar felt comfortable and effective at best glide. The whole idea was to bring the pilot's elbows in and place his hands under the chin of his full-face helmet for the cleanest airflow.

The next step will be a instrument pod that also serves as a hand fairing. The mold is 80% complete.

The rear strut mounting position is conservative. One major factor is hand position on the DTs during landing and foot launches. We kept them low and out of the way, until a strength evaluation on the WW downtubes indicates that a mounting position close to the Apex is acceptable. Set-ups, Ground handling, and dropped base tubes on landings, are the main concern.

One neat item that the pics don't show, is the absence of the flap control line cleat on the base tube. There is a roller in the corner bracket that directs the line to a tapered grind in the trailing edge of the downtube. It works great! And there's no drag.

Discuss "Class II – a bunch of tourists or right thinking guys?" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Pre-Meets

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

A custom built ATOS control frame at Quest.

 

Photos by Dave Glover.

Rigid wing sale

Wed, Apr 4 2001, 3:00:02 pm EDT

Brad Kushner|Florida|Ghostbuster|Hansjoerg Truttmann|Raven Sky Sports|Wallaby Ranch

Hansjorg writes:

Felix Rühle will send two new Atos' to Florida (with best equipment and adjustment possible; Felix did it himself!). Another swiss pilot and I will fly these gliders during the meets. One Atos will be flown in both meets, one only in the Wallaby-Meet.

After the meets these gliders are for sale. Felix fixed the price to 17'000 Deutsche Mark. That should be around 8000 USD.

Everything should be fixed before the last days of Wallaby Meet to organize payment and everything before the end of the comp. Gliders are for sale at Wallaby (no transportation to any location possible; we will leave Florida immediately after the comp).

There is another Swiss pilots Atos to be sold after Wallaby Meet, glider is about one year old in best shape. Price not fixed yet. Please contact me as well if interested.

If you are interested please contact me by mail either to «hansjoerg.truttmann» or to «h.truttmann» before comp or to «truttmann» during comp or directly at Wallaby Ranch during the meet.

Brad Kushner«Brad»writes:

Please let it be known that Brad Kushner of Raven Sky Sports (Whitewater, Wisconsin) has two brand new rigid wings in inventory, available for immediate sale:

1) Ghostbuster, blue/white, with both year2000 and year2001 wire sets; brand new.

2) Small Atos 127, blue/white, also brand new. These gliders can be shipped or courier-delivered in plenty of time for the Competitions in Florida. Contact «Brad» for further info, or telephone (262)473-8800 (office and voice mail) or (630) 215-9020 (cell phone).

2001 Brazilian Nationals »

Tue, Mar 20 2001, 4:00:00 pm EST

André Wolfe|Betinho Schmitz|Brazilian Nationals 2001|Ghostbuster|Paris Williams|Richard Walbec|Wills Wing

The full results are at http://www.abvl.com.br, click "Campeonato Brasileiro de Asa Delta," then Results, then choose Task or International Open for cumulative.

Day 3:

1 Betinho Schmitz Moyes Litespeed BRA
2 Richard Walbec Wills Wing Proto P11 FRA
3 Nene Rotor Moyes Litespeed BRA
4 Luiz Fernando Moyes Litespeed BRA
5 Jean François Palmarini La Mouette Topless II FRA
6 Massimo Tiberio Icaro Laminar BRA
7 Rene Leiser Atos CHE
8 Paris Williams Paris Wills Wing Wills Wing Proto USA

Paris just misses making goal and is the closest to goal without making it. Head wind maybe?

Cumulative:

1 Betinho Schmitz Moyes - Litespeed BRA 2847
2 Richard Walbec Wills Wing - Proto P11 FRA 2588
3 Rene Leiser Atos CHE 2421
4 Gustavo de Araujo Saldanha Moyes - Litespeed BRA 2382
5 Paris Williams Wills Wing Wills Wing - Proto USA 2348
6 Seppi Salvenmoser Icaro - Laminar 13 MRX 2001 AUT 2332
7 Luis Niemeyer BRA 2302
8 Nene Rotor Moyes - Litespeed BRA 2243
9 Lincoln Moreira Icaro - Laminar ST 14 BRA 2204
10 Marcio Calais da Costa Airborne - Climax BRA 2106

Betinho has been first every day. Richard Walbec is doing very well on the latest Wills prototype. A Chilean (Rene) flying an ATOS is in third. There is another ATOS, an Exxtacy and a Ghostbuster in the meet.

Andre Wolf was second on the first day, but didn't make goal yesterday and today. Nene Rotor, third on the first day, didn't make goal on the second day and was third into goal today.

Everyone has to chase Betinho now.

Rigid comparison chart

Sat, Mar 10 2001, 1:00:01 pm EST

Ghostbuster

 

ATOS

Stalker

GB

Exxtacy

Area

146.0

145.0

145.3/135.6

160.0

Span

42.0

39.5

42.3

40.0

Aspect Ratio

12.1

10.3

12.3/13.2

10.1

Nose Angle

 

146.0

 

 

Weight

73.0

84-88

83.8

85.0

Packing Size

8"x18"x19'

8"x19"x19'

10"x20"x20'

9"x20"x20'

Min. Sink

138.0

137.0

137.8

148.0

Min Speed

 

19.0

 

 

Max Speed

 

80.0

 

 

Min. Take Off Weight

198.0

 

198.4

 

Max. Take Off Weight

331.0

 

330.7

350.0

Best L/D

19.0

19+/1

20.0

17.5

L/D with full flaps

 

 

7.0

5.0

Breaking load

 

 

 

8g

Tips

curved

fixed

fixed

fixed

DHV certification

Yes

Soon

Yes

Yes

Dihedral angle

 

1.5

 

 

These values were taken from the respective manufacturers' web pages (where available). Some values were corrected after they were incorrectly converted to English units on the web sites (sq. ft., ft., lbs., ft./min., mph). The values for the Ghostbuster are with flap out and flap retracted.

You'll notice a number of values are missing. Perhaps the manufacturers will write in and give me the missing pieces for this chart. There are not min and max weights given for the Stalker, but there should be some available when it is DHV certified.

These are the values that the manufacturers give. Others and I have made a few measurements over the last year or so. The ATOS weighs in at 78 lbs. The Exxtacy is 95 lbs.

The manufacturers' values for Best L/D seem a bit overblown. My estimate is about 17/1 for all but the Exxtacy, which I'd put at 15/1. This assumes a very clean harness and pilot with their arms tucked in and streamlined as possible. The control frame is assumed to be the standard that comes with the glider.

The ATOS and Ghostbuster have higher aspect ratios than the Stalker or the Exxtacy. This may give them better glide ratios than the Stalker. Perhaps we'll be able to do some side by side comparisons soon.

Why did CIVL put caged gliders in Open Class?

Thu, Mar 8 2001, 4:00:00 pm EST

Carbon Dragon|CIVL|Ghostbuster|Hansjoerg Truttmann|PG|sailplane

Carbon Dragon|CIVL|Ghostbuster|Hansjoerg Truttmann|John "Ole" Olson|PG|sailplane

(?-i)John "Ole" Olson|Carbon Dragon|CIVL|Ghostbuster|Hansjoerg Truttmann|PG|sailplane

Carbon Dragon|CIVL|Ghostbuster|Hansjoerg Truttmann|John "Ole" Olson|PG|sailplane

Hansjörg Truttmann «hansjoerg.truttmann» writes:

I was a member of the CIVL-working group and I attended the CIVL-plenary in Lausanne.

I'll try to explain what the reasons were for the solution decided by the CIVL-working group and the CIVL-plenary.

Hybrid wings (such as Atos', Ghostbusters, Stalkers etc. etc.) and sailplane-like-hang gliders (such as Swifts) are obviously very different (weight, price, pack-size, steering technique and pilot skills, pilot licenses needed, attractiveness, portability, transportability, material, load per square meter, performance, pilots in flight feeling, number of producers, number of competitors etc., etc., etc.). These gliders are so different, that there are two different kind of hang gliding-sports. Mixing them would finally mean, that winning such a competition is only a matter of type of hang glider and not a matter of pilot skills, which is what it should be (as well).

As soon as there would be enough Swifts showing up in such mixed competitions, competing with a hybrid wings would become unattractive and this obviously promising (and obviously attractive) form of hang gliding would be hindered. Instead of motivating designers to improve a very attractive and promising form of hang gliding (see below) designers would be motivated to improve sailplane-like-hang gliders that obviously are much less attractive and obviously didn't contribute to hang gliding-movement as much if we look at the number of pilots and manufacturers attracted by them in the last 7 or 8 years.

To mix Swifts and Atos' in the same class would raise the question why we should not mix all the hang gliders - from paragliders to Carbon Dragons ("let the best hang glider win"). Obviously, it would be absurd to mix paragliders with Swifts in competition. It is perhaps not so obvious, but still reasonable not to mix Atos', and Swifts (hybrid wings and sailplane-like hang gliders).

Hybrid wings have proven to be attractive for a large number of pilots and competitors. Hybrid wings have contributed since 1997 to the future of hang gliding and the future of hang gliding competition. There are countries where hybrid wings have become the main type of glider in hang gliding (even more important than flex wings, exception paragliders).

Since CIVL and CIVL-delegates have the duty to try to further hang gliding, CIVL and CIVL-delegates have to try to estimate what's best for hang gliding in future. This estimation has to be done by judging the reality as it looks now (not the history in my opinion, that would not be very innovative) and the probable reality as it will be in the (near) future.

In my opinion (and I was obviously not alone at the CIVL-Meeting) it is better for hang gliding and hang gliding competition to "protect" hybrids from the competition with the sailplane-like gliders than to "protect" sailplane-like gliders from the competition with the ultralight sailplanes. For some pilots of sailplane-like gliders that might seem arbitrary. Class-definition is always arbitrary. The arbitration by the CIVL-delegates has obviously been influenced by the arbitration of the hang gliding community, which decided that hybrids are more important for them compared to sailplane-like-gliders.

It is argued that an Open Class with sailplane-like gliders (such as Swifts) and ultralight sailplanes (such as Carbon Dragons) would kill the development of the sailplane-like gliders. I doubt about it because of two simple reasons.

1. In reality there is no unfair competition in Open Class: Carbon Dragons have proved to be extremely unattractive to be flown in competitions or to be foot launched. As far as I know, only two ultralight-sailplanes of the Open-Class-type exist in the whole world. As far as I know not one single pilot in the whole world is competing with his ultralight-sailplane. As far as I know not one single pilot is foot launching with ultralight-sailplanes. Conclusion: in reality Swifts and Millenniums would be alone in Open-Class-Competitions and no "unfair" competition would happen.

2. Sailplane-like gliders (such as Swifts) will be protected as soon as they proof to deserve it: Sailplane-like gliders are given the possibility to show their qualities by competing in the Open Class (with or without "unfair" competition) together with Class 2. If sailplane-like gliders arise with even better performance and more over-all-attractiveness than they have today, pilots would buy it whether they have to compete with ultra-lights or not. If a large number of pilots would be attracted by these gliders, so that the officials in the world would consider them as important contribution to the future of hang gliding and hopefully they would decide to give them the "protection" they deserve (exactly as they gave it to the hybrids now).

BTW: It is argued that sailplane-like-gliders are banned. This is not true. They are allowed to compete in Open Class with full equipment (fairings included). This is obviously an improvement as today Swifts are not able to prove their superiority in comps with their full equipment. (Actually: there is no need to proof the superiority any more. Everybody who competed at the worlds in Italy is aware Swift's superiority and it is only due to documentation errors that Johnny Carr didn't win the class-2-worlds by far)

In my opinion it would not affect hang gliding, if ultralights would be banned completely out of hang gliding-competitions and out of Open Class since they are not real hang gliders (because they are not really footlaunchable).

Two final thoughts:

1. There was almost no attendance of sailplane-like gliders in competitions in the past (except at the worlds in '95). So why should the way how we define classes save or damage the future of sailplane-like-gliders, as long as they are allowed to compete and show their beautiful machines with their excellent performance?

2. Is it a promising aim to push performance by any means? I say no: the future of hang gliding is not performance alone, but over-all-attractiveness. It might seem strange but at the moment it is true: The more performance a type of hang glider has, the less attractive it is (paragliders > flex wings > hybrid wings > sailplane-like hang gliders > Carbon Dragons). It is reasonable to "protect" inferior gliders if they are attractive for the pilots and the competitors.

Christof coming to Florida

Fri, Mar 2 2001, 4:00:01 pm EST

Christof Kratzner|Florida|Ghostbuster|Worlds

The already very high level of competition at the Florida meets, just keeps getting higher. Christof Kratzner, the current Class II world champion, will be coming to Florida to fly in the Flytec Championship and the Wallaby Open. Unlike at the World Championships in Segillo, Italy, or the 2000 pre-Worlds in Spain, he will not be flying an AIR/Icaro ATOS. Instead he will be flying a Flight Design Ghostbuster.

Christof worked on a caged version of the ATOS. We assume that he will be flying a regular version of the Ghostbuster, but we are checking.

Christof is the DHV pilot who tests new gliders to make sure that they pass the DHV flying tests.

Christof is also well known as a pilot who can smoke a cigarette while flying (he has a special butane lighter attached to his down tube). Let's hope that all his aspirations don't go up in smoke.

Stalking the Stalker

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A few comments on "muscle memory"

Mon, Feb 12 2001, 7:00:02 pm EST

Ghostbuster

I probably should have written these comments earlier after I got Scott's article, but G.W.'s has really brought the issue to the fore for me. I'm not really criticizing their articles it's just that I don't really buy this business about muscle memory and here's why.

First, the muscle memory that we are talking about is that which we early Exxtacy pilots developed when we first got our Exxtacies. The control bar was way out in front, much different than a "normal" flex wing hang glider (didn't call them that then). It felt really weird to have the control bar out so far in front, and all our "muscle memory" was telling us to pull in.

The reason the bar was way out there was to keep the thing from spinning. During its development Felix had been able to spin the Exxtacy, and he decided to put the bar way out there so that even a big boy like him with really long arms would have real trouble spinning it.

Now, all us Exxtacy pilots took a while but we learned to like it and we developed a new set of muscle memories. At the same time we unlearned how to fly flex wing gliders, talk about losing muscle memory. We couldn't co-ordinate turns in flex wings any more, and we were continually over correcting our roll inputs when we went back to try to fly them.

Along came the Ghostbuster with the control bar brought back to the more "normal" place, and as soon as I got on one I immediately stalled it and put it into a spin (right next to the hill). Why? Because I had just been trained over the previous two years to push the bar out to initiate a turn. The Exxtacy had made me a new set of "muscle memories."

Now, the Ghostbuster has a new set of wires, and the Stalker has a set of similar wires that put the bar out in front, in that "weird" position, at least weird for flex wing pilots, and pilots who haven't flown the Exxtacy.

So, what I'm saying is that the new wire position for these two gliders makes it harder for a pilot to spin them, regardless of their muscle memory. Former Exxtacy pilots with their muscle memory of the bar far out won't be stalling and spinning the Ghostbuster (with the new wires) or the Stalker as the bar will be far out in front, just like they expect. Flex wing pilots won't be stalling and spinning them by pushing out, as the bar will be too far out.

Aeros Stalker and muscle memory

Mon, Feb 12 2001, 7:00:01 pm EST

Aeros Stalker|Ghostbuster|record|sailplane|Scott Rutledge

G. W. Meadows «gw» writes below along the lines of Scott Rutledge's article re the new wires on the Ghostbuster, but this time with tragic consequences:

I've just returned from the SSA tradeshow in Indianapolis where the Stalker was a big hit. Previously, I had reported how excited I was when I first saw the completed production version of the Stalker, but I figured it was just me being all "proud" of something I knew I was going to be selling. Well, I was very happy to see that the overwhelming response of other pilots to the Stalker was similar to mine.

While the number of hang glider pilots visiting the show was limited, I was blown away by the reaction of the few dozen who did show up. Most seemed to be really impressed by the design, fit and finish of this long anticipated rigid wing.

I read with interest in the Oz number 36, Scott Rutledge's report on the wire change to the Ghostbuster. I'm glad to see that Flight Designs was able to get out an acceptable solution to the problems they encountered. It looks like they're doing a professional job of addressing the issue.

Aeros, due to the fact that the Stalker is just now coming out is in the enviable position of being able to test for all of this before releasing the new product - in fact this is part of the reason for the delay in the debut of the Stalker. After many tests, Aeros has moved the control frame of the Stalker forward by 120mm from its original position. Because of exactly the same reason that Flight Designs states - muscle memory.

Aeros felt it best that the natural "muscle memory position" flying speed of the Stalker be noticeably higher than its slowest speed. The major reason for Aeros' concern in this area is with the obvious spin characteristics of all rigid wings.

Aeros has performed spin testing on the Stalker and has found that pilots can force the wing into a spin and that an inadvertent spin is possible if the wing is flown near it's low speed range and a pilot indeed performs the necessary control inputs. The spin characteristics of the Stalker have shown to be a (relatively) low sink rate - flat spin.

While spins themselves are not always a problem - they become deadly in any aircraft near the ground.

Last year, an employee at the Aeros factory (not a test pilot) did indeed inadvertently spin the pre-production model of the Stalker from less than 100 ft. The pilot had been briefed completely on the speeds to fly within a certain distance of the ground, but in his elation of how well the glider handled, he decided to do a series of reversing - high banked turns near the ground while yelling down to the designer how much he loved the glider.

The glider entered a spin and did 3 full revolutions in less than 100 ft (due to relatively low sink rate in the spin) and impacted basetube first. Unfortunately, due to the failure a prototype downtube apex junction (which hadn't yet been tested for impact loading and which is not on the production model) the pilot had the heaviest part of the wing the (keel and D-tube junction) hit him in the back of the head upon impact when the wing separated from the top of the control frame and he subsequently died from the injury.

Truly, this was a freak accident regarding the death of the pilot, but the spin which precipitated it made Aeros decide to do some extra spin research on the wing, especially in the area of flow separation. These tests confirmed with Aeros that the stall does indeed start in the center of the wing in all control surface configurations (as it should). Still, Aeros is a company that has an outstanding record with safety on it's wings and they have decided that moving the control bar forward will help with the reduction of inadvertent spins due to the pilot muscle memory in a naturally lower angle of attack.

I think it is important that all rigid wings be flown more like sailplanes when near the ground. I believe that the number one killer of sailplane pilots is stall spins while on approach. Hang glider pilots who fly rigid wings would do themselves a great service if they would do their approaches more like sailplanes. Extra speed with non-reversing turns while on approach is the norm for sailplane pilots and it's how I'll be flying the Stalker as well as other rigid wings I hop on.

There is still much to be learned about rigid wings and I applaud the designers and manufactures of all these wings for their willingness to move the sport to the next step of performance.

Discuss "Aeros Stalker and muscle memory" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

No Ghostbusters at Angerer Open

Sat, Feb 10 2001, 6:00:06 pm EST

Ghostbuster|Hansjoerg Truttmann

Hansjoerg Truttmann «h.truttmann» writes after looking at the Angerer Open web site at http://private.addcom.de/kamml/club/ang.htm to wonder out loud why there weren't any Ghostbusters at this glide competition. He states that Flight Design claims a 20/1 glide ratio for the Ghostbuster, that they are located near the competition site, and knew about the competition.

Good question.

Muscle Memory and the Ghostbuster

Tue, Feb 6 2001, 8:00:00 pm EST

Ghostbuster

Scott Rutledge «ScottR» writes:

Control bar position is every HG pilots gauge of trim. It's extremely hard to overcome just where you feel it should be in relation to your head and shoulders when flying. Hit some lift, and push out. Its ingrained into our body how we react, and seems a more powerful sense than what the air flowing by tells us about our airspeed.

I had learned this lesson very early on flying the Ghostbuster. On my first flight, I launched and put the control bar in about the same relative position as I had been when flying my Exxtacy, and viola, instant stall. OK, I had been warned about the bar position, but this was more radical than I had imagined. I could barely even get my Exxtacy to stall, even with the control bar crammed all the way out.

I next notice that when the glider hit some lift the nose would climb. I would happily let it, but all that would result was an increase in the sink rate, and the glider would mush around the turn, dropping the inside tip, and not climb well at all. The glider was far from stalling, but it wasn't climbing well at slow speeds. Good climb rates would instantly return when I sped up to well above stall, or mush speeds. Turn coordination would than also become automatic.

The interesting thing was that none of this was intuitive. I found myself flying most efficiently by carefully watching my airspeed, and overcoming my muscle memory as to how best to fly by how it felt, and my historic relationship (learned on the Exxtacy) to the control bar movement in regards to pitch. The pitch being noticeably more sensitive, led to flying with virtually no, or very little fore and aft control bar movement to achieve optimal performance.

Now, Flight Design, in response to investigating the cause for a couple of Ghostbuster tumbles in the US, has determined that there exists a relationship between the pilot and the control bar position and a new term they call static margin. Basically, what this means is that a pilot gets used to having the control bar in a certain place. How that pilot reacts to certain flying conditions, like pushing out when encountering lift, has a lot to do with how stable the glider will be when conditions get turbulent. The fix was to simply move the control bar forward. Could it be that simple?

Well, I was sure skeptical in that I had pretty much convinced myself that I preferred my cables the way they were, but I made the wire switch offered free of charge by Flight Design anyway, and after a couple hours I like the new setup. The bar is out a little further, at trim, but not as far as the Exxtacy. Thermalling trim has the control bar in a much more natural semi pushed out position, which just seems right. Which I guess just goes back to that old muscle memory relationship we have with the control bar.

All in all I would highly recommend that those GB pilots who haven't switched, to change your cables, and readjust the slackness in your spoiler wire, and stop rope. For those who were disappointed that the GB didn't fly as easy as the Exxtacy, you may want to try it again, and judge the change for yourself, I think you'll like the difference.

Rigid family man

Mon, Jan 29 2001, 11:00:01 pm EST

Ghostbuster|sailplane

Robert Lowe «SKYOUT1» writes:

I found the previous article on rigids particularly interesting, since I am 48, flying scareplanes, sailpanes since I was 15 years old, hang gliders for 28 years, and have a profession, a 7 year old daughter, a hobie cat, windsurfer, mountain bike, 10 pair of skis, etc., and a life. Hang gliding is the best thing, but not the only thing and safety is a bigger thing to me now that I/we have so much more to lose.

RIGIDS give me so much more safety, confidence, and performance that I too can easily blast the best flacids with my GhostBuster when they fly twice as much, pound most of the time, and have NO OTHER LIFE. Stiffies are not the threatening thing they look like to someone who doesn't have any sailplane time. I fortunately have a lot of GROB 103 ACRO time. RIGIDS are daddies' and old guys' BEST friends. They make us look good again, like the young fools who still fly flex 8 days a week.

What's up with AIR (continued)?

Tue, Oct 24 2000, 8:00:00 pm GMT

Mike Eberle|Flight Design|Ghostbuster|Exxtacy|A.I.R. (Aeronautic Innovation Rühle & Co.)|Altair|ATOS|Bernd Weber|Edelgard Stasch

On Monday Mike Eberle (North American Flight Design «napi») the US distributor of Flight Design's products including the Ghostbuster and the Exxtacy sent me the following note:

I am trying to get more info about AIR closing their doors. I just tried to check their web page to see if there are any updates and the page is gone.

I have heard from Altair, the US distributor of AIR's ATOS, that Mike has been sending out many notices regarding a supposed closing of the doors at the AIR factory in Zainingen. I heard today from Altair that they are communicating normally with AIR on current and future orders and received e-mail today from Manuela at the AIR office in Zainingen.

It is quite clear why Mike would want to spread this kind of rumor as widely as possible, but still as a reporter I have to track it down as best I can, no matter how unfounded it may be.

I asked Berndt Weber the managing director at AIR about what Mike has written, here is what he said:

Bernd Weber Managing Director
A.I.R.
Aeronautic Innovation Rühle & Co.
GmbH Salzstr.
6 D-72587
Römerstein-Zainingen

(editor's note: notice Berndt's address here.)

«Bernd»
http://www.a-i-r.de

Edelgard Stasch, my wife, will get the website up. It was just a mistake on the part of our Internet service provider and had nothing to do with A.I.R.

Thank you for your understanding, but some of the information in your Oz Report was speculation and wasn't actually the case. We are making changes to our business structure to manage the tasks in the future.

We are currently the number one manufacturer of rigid wing hang gliders in the world and we don't any strong competition especially in Europe. But having competitors is normal and necessary in a healthy market. Our job is to keep our products strong enough to be the best and most popular products in the future.

Felix is the most experienced designer in the rigid wing scene and we will reorganize so that he doesn't have to be concerned with administration and production as he has in the past. His main tasks in the future will be controlling quality, customer support, advice and very importantly, design.

With Felix focusing on design we will be able to offer an intermediate ATOS (easy to fly, safe, less weight and cheaper). In addition he will be able to further work and optimize the performance, safety, and quality of our products.

To start a business and build it up in the short time that we have is hard work. Our hard work has paid off and AIR has done very well indeed. We have sold more then 400 ATOSes and earned money in the process. But, now we need to grow further to meet our new goals. We need to optimize the producing process as well as the company structure.

This is what we are doing now. I will keep you informed as we make the changes that we have currently laid out. Perhaps in the next two weeks we are able to give you additional information about the coming changes at AIR. Without any doubt we are sure that our solutions are a big step in the right direction and will satisfy our customers now and in the future.

I see a great future for AIR company and its products. As a hang glider pilot I will be very interested in flying new innovations from Felix Ruehle.

(editor's note: I will be sure to publish any news I hear from Berndt, and any one else who has some accurate information. I am currently tracking down another rumor that Mike has sent me.)

Discuss "What's up with AIR (continued)?" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

New $6000 rigid wing gliders

Sat, Sep 23 2000, 7:00:02 pm EDT

Aerial Adventures|Ghostbuster|Gilbert Griffith|record|Worlds

I've watched the Euro continue on it's long slide since opening at $1.16 eighteen months ago (a few months before I went to the Worlds in Italy) to $0.88 today. The US and other countries are now trying desperately to prop it up. Even the US stock market is in a decline partly due to the lower revenues US firms are getting from Europe due to the decline in the Euro.

I am buying a new sail from AIR for my previous ATOS. Gilbert Griffith is going to let me use it in Australia to fly in the competitions. I thought it would be good to get him a new sail in return. With the Euro falling, the sail turned out to be quite a bargain.

While up at Aerial Adventures in Fort Lawton, British Columbia, Canada last weekend, a pilot spoke to me about the Deutsch Mark-denominated retail price list he had seen in their office. I followed up with Aerial Adventures and they gave me the following retail prices (including VAT) for rigid wing gliders in Germany taken from the June issue of Fly and Glide:

ATOS              17900 DM
Exxtacy           13600 DM
Ghostbuster     16800 DM
ESC                 17000 DM

Assuming that you can go to Europe and purchase one of these gliders at retail prices from a dealer without having to pay the VAT (value added tax), the following table gives you an idea of what it would cost you, given today's exchange rate:

Glider

With VAT

w/o

USD

ATOS

17900

15431

$6944

Exxtacy

13600

11724

$5276

Ghostbuster

16800

14483

$6517

ESC

17000

14655

$6595

I am not completely up on the current US prices for the rigid wing gliders in the table, but I'm pretty sure that the ATOS sells at retail for over $11,000 including shipping, and the Exxtacy sells for about $8400.

I was able to get comments from all three US distributors about these prices but one was off the record, so I won't be able to print those. I figured that it would be fair to get their comments before I published this article. Here is what Jim Zeiset says:

I think that the VAT has to be paid also because I pay 17000 DM minus a minimal dealer discount plus $850 in import charges and air freight. Yes, you are right the DM has been falling relative to the $ in recent weeks. I have already reduced the price of the ESC by $500 even though Altair and NAFD haven't as far as I know.

Mike Eberle at North American Flight Design«napi»writes:

All joking aside, I do this business because I like it, however, no matter how much I like it, I do have to pay bills and yes, even make enough profit to eat and live. I do this with no apologies, but often without much success.

Shipping, dealer margin, duty, customs broker fees, broken gliders, insurance, dealer seminars, client seminars (I think you may have even been to one or two of these), advertisement, sponsorship, loan payments, shop/office rent, phones, blah, blah blah, blah. As you know, the list goes on.

As you know Davis, I have never been big on sharing my personal and business information with the flying community (just like you, or any other American out there), but you must realize that I pay for all these listed things and more. I pay for these expenses from what profit I make selling gear (both wholesale and retail), teaching lessons, and doing the occasional tour. This is just the cost of doing business.

As seen above there are a number of factors that could explain the approximately $3,000 - $4,000 difference in retail prices between Europe and the US. The US distributors have to ship their gliders from Europe and this incurs in addition import paper work charges. Dealers in Europe just drive up to the AIR factory and pick up their ATOSes. Shipping requires an expensive ($200) wooden box, in the case of the ATOS gliders.

US distributors who maintain parts inventory have an additional expense not necessarily incurred by European dealers who can get quicker access to the factory. Without the need for a distributor in Europe, the sales channel is compressed and costs are reduced.

US distributors have taken on additional marketing costs to familiarize the US pilot population with the rigid wing gliders. In addition, they have to deal with fluctuating currencies, which in this case have all gone their way.

We are not aware of the conditions and methods that one uses to be legally exempt from paying the VAT when purchasing a glider. Jim Zeiset claims that the distributors have to pay it on gliders shipped to the US. I thought it was only on goods used in Europe, but I'm no expert on this. I have been told that you can purchase the glider in Munich, drive four hours to Slovakia, turn around and come back, and there is no VAT.

Pilots have long complained about the high price of rigid wing gliders compared to flex wing gliders. They claim that this is a big obstacle to their wide spread adoption. It now appears that you can buy a brand new rigid wing glider for about the same price as a new flex wing topless glider. You just have to go to Europe to do it.

A few comments on the above article

Sat, Sep 23 2000, 7:00:01 pm EDT

Ghostbuster

It is nice to see this level of detailed research and consideration on Flight Design's part. I hope that their remedy does address the issue.

First, this seems to be exactly the solution that was applied to the prototype Exxtacy to keep it from stalling and spinning - the put the bar out further in front of the pilot. In this case, the apparently same solution is being used to encourage the pilot to pull himself further forward in front of the center of pressure (neutral point) when he has the bar between his chin and chest.

Second, I recently had a chance to speak at some greater length with an experienced Ghostbuster pilot regarding his experiences flying in the somewhat turbulent air in Chelan, Washington, USA. He found that his Ghostbuster would often pitch up when he would enter a thermal, and he often "felt" as though the bar was going to be pulled out of his hands. He often "felt" as though the glider was too much for him on strong thermal days, threatening to over power him as he struggled to get the nose back down when he entered thermals. This pilot had previously had extensive experience flying an Exxtacy clone – the ixbo.

On the last day that I flew with him in Chelan, he took off from the Butte soon after I did. There was a strong thermal right at the launch, and I turned as soon as I got off the ground. My friend then took off, and soon found himself at the downside edge of the thermal with the bar of his Ghostbuster back by his knees, and the back of his head facing down toward the hill side. He was able to recover from this greater than 90-degree position before he hit the hillside 300 feet below and went on for a less eventful flight.

After contacting Flight Design and discussing these problems he chose (without Flight Designs encouragement) to increase the nose angle on his Ghostbuster to the maximum allowed. He found that he no longer had the problem of "feeling" that the bar was going to be ripped out of his hands.

Static margin and Ghostbuster tucks

Sat, Sep 23 2000, 7:00:00 pm EDT

Ghostbuster|record

Flight Design «flightdesign» put out the following bulletin on 19th September 2000:

After a research process that started immediately after Bill Lemon's tumbling we are presenting the conclusion about the stability qualities from the Ghostbuster. Sorry if this was a long time, but we have stretched this research until we were absolutely sure of the results.

The terminology adopted in Germany makes a distinction between tucking and tumbling. Tucking is the quick rotation forward like a forward loop. Tumbling is the recurrence of the quick rotation forward until recovery, inverted flight, parachute opening or glider brake.

Our final conclusion was issued based with data obtained from many different sources: aero dynamical data from more then twenty runs in the DHV certification test truck with the Ghostbuster in all possible modifications, aero dynamical data from the Exxtacy and Ghostbuster certification, reports from the accidents by the pilots, physical examination from the broken gliders sent back to us, test flights by our pilots, reports from many Ghostbuster pilots all over the world, an independent analysis performed by Dr. Martin Jursa, who was the technical director of the DHV and performed a deep theoretical and practical research about tumbling characteristics in hang gliders.

We would like to stress that the research was made exceeding all the possible configurations that a Ghostbuster could possible have after leaving our quality control. This was done to examine if a particular combination of extreme sweep and sail tension could induce a loss of stability with the twist distribution inside the factory tolerances. None of these tests have showed any critical result according to today's certification tests.

The aerodynamically analysis performed by Dr. Martin Jursa consisted in comparing the stability curves from the different configurations from the Ghostbuster and the certified Exxtacy.

His analysis showed that the stability curves from the Ghostbuster are better then from the Exxtacy. This is somewhat surprising, due to the difference in safety records, but agrees with the safety aim set when the Ghostbuster was designed. The Ghostbuster was carefully designed with a large tip area to be more spin resistant and improve the load distribution. There is also turbulators sewing along the span of the upper sail that prevents a laminar stall.

Where does the difference in safety records then come from?

Normally a pilot entering a turbulence zone reacts by adopting an ergonomic "alert" position, where the bar lies somewhere between his chin and breast. The amount of weight shifting afterwards depends on how dangerous the pilot judges the situation after a while.

The Ghostbuster has 7-10 cm more rearwards bar position compared to an Exxtacy. For an average size pilot this difference in the alert position represents 3-4° higher angle of attack, which will approximately result in 5 km/h less speed. The speed and the angle of attack differences cannot explain why a Ghostbuster would tuck and an Exxtacy not, because in extreme turbulence the gust variation can be much bigger then that, therefore statistically it should have already happened that some Exxtacy would have tucked.

Hang gliders are not only tailless but also apply weight shift in the longitudinal axis (speed axis). When a pilot moves his body forward he is not only increasing speed because of reducing the angle of attack but more important he is also shifting his weight and with that the CG (centre of gravity) forward. The CG position is very important for all hang gliders, gliders and planes in turbulent conditions.

In the mechanics of flight the biggest safety factor for longitudinal stability is how much the centre of gravity of the aircraft is in front of the neutral point. This distance is called the static margin.

If the same pilot keeps his specific "alert position" in a Ghostbuster and an Exxtacy, there will be a very big difference of stability. As you can see in the table below for our example we have more then 125% in difference in the static margin. It is important to understand that it doesn't matter which speed the pilot is flying, if he keeps the same bar position relative to his body this difference in stability will always be present in all speed range and even more dramatic in lower speeds.

Static margin in cm and in percentage of P*.

Glider type

Exx 160

Ghostbuster

Static margin in cm

11.18 cm

4.91 cm

static margin in %/P

13.34%

5.93%

Static margin at same pilot to bar position, in cm and in percentage of P*. *P or Pfeilmass is a reference value used mostly in tailless designs. P

If we change now the pilot position by 7 cm with new cables, we double the static margin of the Ghostbuster. A second very important positive effect of having bigger static margin is the resistance to tip stall and spin.

Glider type

Exx 160

Ghostbuster with new cables

Static margin in cm

11.18 cm

10.77 cm

static margin in %/P

13.34%

13.03%

Conclusion:

We have had two tasks for our research:

1. To find the proofed reason for the difference in safety statistics between the Ghostbuster and the Exxtacy

2. To find a solution to modify the glider in a way that the pilots can fly safe without any special advise or tools and with no reduction of in-flight fun or performance.

The difference in static margin is very reasonable explanation for the incidents. The Ghostbuster by its pitch curve is more stable than the Exxtacy, today's certification tests do not evaluate the static margin and we also have not done it during our design period, but you can be sure that in all future developments we will take care of this point.

With the change of the front cables, we can provide to the pilots a modification, which will not in anyway decrease in-flight fun or performance, but will increase safety margin to the well proven Exxtacy standard, by having better spin and stall resistance and recovery.

New front cables and rear shackles for all Ghostbuster pilots can be ordered free of charge from your importers and dealers.

Spins – not just for sailplane pilots anymore »

Sun, Sep 17 2000, 5:00:00 pm GMT

Aeronautic Innovation Rühle & Co GmbH|Felix Ruehle|Ghostbuster|sailplane|Spins|Worlds 2000

Prior to flying the Flight Design Ghostbuster, I made a sharp distinction between hang gliders (those gliders which are quite difficult to spin) and ultralight sailplanes (those gliders which are quite easy to spin). While I still make a distinction between hang gliders and ultralight sailplanes, it is no longer quite so sharp in the area of spin ability.

I have flown and inadvertently spun the Ghostbuster. I have flown and inadvertently spun the Guggenmos ESC. I have flown, and may have spun the ATOS, although this is not so clear. Others have inadvertently spun the ATOS, Ghostbuster, and ESC.

In the past (before July, 1999) hang gliders pilots have not had to learn about spins because hang gliders wouldn't spin unless you went to great lengths to get them to do so. Aerobatic hang gliders pilots actually had to learn how to get a hang glider to spin.

The first rigid wing hang gliders (Exxtacy, ixbo) also were quite difficult to get to spin. Only intentional spins were reported, and then only very rarely, and well after the Exxtacy was introduced (other than one incident in France, not until three years after the Exxtacy was introduced).

I flew and spun the Ghostbuster on July 19th of 1999 (https://OzReport.com/Ozv3n93.htm), but didn't recognize the spins as such, and didn't report them as such at the time. On August 2nd, 1999 (https://OzReport.com/Ozv3n103.htm), I reported slipping a turn on my ATOS at the Worlds.

It was not until March 6th of 2000 (https://OzReport.com/Ozv3n103.htm), that the first spin on a rigid wing was reported. It was my spin on a Ghostbuster. This was nine months after the Ghostbusters were first shipped to world team pilots and became available to the pilot community. By then I had had extensive experience on my ATOS flying it in Australia and hadn't experienced any spin characteristics.

After this spin, reports of other, later spins began trickling in both for the ATOS and the Ghostbuster. With the mounting evidence it became clear that it wasn't all that difficult to spin the ATOS or the Ghostbuster. All you needed to do was either push way out, put your hang strap way back, or perhaps engage in high angle wangs. No longer were hang glider pilots exempt from the problems of spinning.

Not only could you unintentionally get the ATOS or Ghostbuster to spin, but you had to actively engage in getting it out of a spin once it was in one. Previously hang glider pilots just had to quite doing what they were doing to induce a hang glider to spin to get it to stop. You now had to pull in on the bar, and move to the outside of the rotation of the glider (all while the nose was pointed way down and you were being pulled away from the control bar by the rotational forces).

Unconsciously at first, by later consciously, I had changed my flying style, from that which I used when I was flying flex wings and the Exxtacy. I no longer pushed the control bar out. I flew at 25-mph minimum. I didn't do wangs. Therefore, I didn't and haven't experienced any tendency to spin my ATOS.

Previously, when flex wing pilot moved up to an Exxtacy, they didn't have to recondition themselves. Hang glider pilots who are new to the Ghostbuster, ATOS, and ESC are going to have to change their flying style so that they don’t spin the glider. This is not particularly difficult, but it has to be done.

We now know that the Exxtacy was quite easy to spin until the control bar was moved very far forward on all the production models. We were told this earlier, but we really didn't understand this until the ATOS and Ghostbuster showed up.

When Flight Design and AIR introduced the Ghostbuster and the ATOS respectively, neither manufacturer provided any clue about the possibility of spins with their glider. Given that rigid wing pilots had already flown the Exxtacy and hadn't experienced any surprises, it would have been a great public service, to say that least, if the manufacturers had at least hinted that there might be a problem if you were to take your old instincts and put them on these new gliders.

If you go to the AIR web site, you can read a paper by Felix Ruehle on stalls and spins with an ATOS (http://www.a-i-r.de/pages-e/aef_08_safety.htm). While I have searched the Flight Design site (http://www.flightdesign.com/pages/startfr.htm), I have been unable to find a similar paper at that site.

Right now I'd say that the Ghostbuster and the ATOS are great choices for flex wing or Exxtacy pilots who are interested in moving up to the higher performance of rigid wing hang gliders. If you don't want to change any of your hang gliding conditioned reflexes, I'd suggest getting an intermediate rigid wing hang glider, the Exxtacy. If you are willing to make the minor changes necessary to fly a high performance rigid wing, than get some instruction before you get an ATOS or Ghostbuster.

Searching the Oz Report

Sat, Sep 2 2000, 1:00:02 pm EDT

Ghostbuster|Hansjoerg Truttmann|record

I use FreeFind (http://www.FreeFind.com/faq.html) to index the Oz Report, as I don't have access to those services at the basic service level on the very inexpensive (www.pair.com) web host serving company. A number of you use the FreeFind services to search for articles in the Oz Report. Of course, the fact that each page of the Oz Report starts with pretty much the same text doesn't help out too much. You still have to wade through each issue found in the search to find what you are looking for.

I get a report on what folks are searching for each week and monthly. Here's what folks were looking for in August by the top 50 words:

         Top 50 Keywords
         ---------------
From: Tue Aug 01 00:00:00 PDT 2000
To: Fri Sep 01 00:00:00 PDT 2000

        Count   Keyword
        -----   -------
         32 exxtacy
         15 polar
         14 harness
         10 star
         10 wheel
         10 atos
         10 setup
         10 lone
         9 polars
         8 gary
         7 stalker
         6 rigid
         6 lakeview
         5 swift
         5 felix
         5 seedwings
         5 tiki
         5 wings
         4 nationals
         4 us
         4 bausenwein
         4 sensor
         4 hans
         4 software
         4 20
         4 ghostbuster
         4 cumulative
         4 brauniger
         4 drag
         4 john
         4 race
         3 chelan
         3 adms
         3 sarah
         3 esc
         3 broke
         3 muller
         3 record
         3 fly
         3 eagle
         3 golden
         3 hansjoerg
         3 2000
         3 rebbechi
         3 small
         3 fenwick
         3 1e
         3 easy
         2 gerolf
         2 arl

Those spinning Ghostbusters

Sun, Aug 6 2000, 6:00:01 am EDT

carbon fiber|Ghostbuster

carbon fiber|Donn Denman|Ghostbuster

carbon fiber|Donn Denman|Ghostbuster

Rich Drewes,«drewes»,writes:

Last Saturday I was on launch with my Exxtacy at Slide, and saw another Ghostbuster in the air go into three or four steep diving turns and then a deep dive. I remember holding my breath and thinking "He's going to pull out too sharply and blow up his wing" but thankfully he didn't. When he did finally pull out he was apparently quite close to the ground (pilots in the air near him reported his altitude at the end was about 400 AGL!).

The pilot, whom I didn't know by name (I think he introduced himself at launch, but I can't recall it) was reported to have said on the radio after the event something like "That was my first spin. I'm going in to land." But instead, he continued flying. Another pilot I interviewed who had spoken with the Ghostbuster pilot said that the Ghostbuster pilot reported that he wasn't paying too much attention when the spin started, and that he had done several revolutions before he realized what was going on and tried to correct.

Rich had an earlier opportunity to view Ghostbusters in full spin:

I was flying Slide three or four weeks ago with Donn Denman and I was in the air when Kevin Dutt's Ghostbuster spun about 1000 feet over launch. It did some turns, went into a steep dive, tumbled (I didn't see this part) and then literally exploded when the pilot fell into the wing. Observers on the ground say it was raining carbon fiber for ten minutes afterwards. Dutt deployed his chute and got down with just some scratches, thankfully.

Rich would like to see more people writing in about their spins:

I know you have been reporting on lots of spin information in your Oz Reports. As an Exxtacy pilot, I very much appreciate it. It would be great if you could get a few more perspectives on this event (particularly Kevin Dutt's) and try to build a picture of what happened. Your forum and reporting on these events could save lives.

I've asked Kevin to write in.

Rigid spins – let's twist again »

Fri, Aug 4 2000, 9:00:01 am EDT

Brett Snellgrove|Carbon Dragon|Culver Twist|Dave Swanson|David Swanson|Ghostbuster|Rigid spins|sailplane

Brett Snellgrove|Carbon Dragon|Culver Twist|Dave Swanson|David Swanson|Ghostbuster|John "Ole" Olson|Rigid spins|sailplane

(?-i)John "Ole" Olson|Brett Snellgrove|Carbon Dragon|Culver Twist|Dave Swanson|David Swanson|Ghostbuster|Rigid spins|sailplane

Brett Snellgrove|Carbon Dragon|Culver Twist|Dave Swanson|David Swanson|Ghostbuster|John "Ole" Olson|Rigid spins|sailplane

Dave Swanson, «davidrsw», writes:

Since all these gliders (Exxtacy and Ghostbuster) were not immediately put into hard severe turns, there were no tip stalls and no spins. Now that pilots have been pushing the performance envelope, we have begun to see the spin tendency. The spin tendency comes from the twist distribution that allows tip stalls with the root stalled. As far a I know, only Irv Culver has run the theory on spin recovery on a flying wing.

We design to the best of our abilities. The best design outside of the Culver Twist is 7° on the outboard half of the span. I only learned about this because I helped Don Mitchell build the Stealth II. Don had talked with Irv as they both lived in Tehachapi.

Back in 1990, I started to go up to Tehachapi almost every Sat. to have breakfast with Dan Armstrong, Les King, Don Mitchell, Irv Culver, and Jim Maupin. Talk about awe struck. I'd just sit and listen. What a great bunch of designers!! There were no rigids back then and Tehachapi is a long way from the designers in Europe. I wouldn't have ever expected them to know.

So the question is, what is the twist distribution on the Millennium, a tailless glider that we've known for a long time is very easy to spin?

While I don't know for a fact what the actual numbers are across the span, its ability to spin on a dime would lead me to believe that it also has the conventional twist in only the outboard half of the wing span.

brett s snellgrove,«snell14»writes:

I read David Swanson's letter on utilizing the Culver twist on rigids wings to prevent spins with interest. Basically it comes down to more inboard twist. I was under the impression this was tried on the earlier Raptor prototypes - well inboard reflex at least, which should have a similar function - and resulted in very high pitch pressures and a lower top speed and glide.

Also, if flex wings (topless) are considered unsafe if pilots lower the sprogs from their 28 degree setting, how did rigid wings expect to get away with a 5-7 degree washout? Makes you wonder if the inboard washout is increased sufficient to get rigids as spin resistant as flex wings will they glide any better?

Steve Arndt,«hanglyder»,writes:

As you may recall, I fly one of Irv Culvers designs, the Carbon Dragon ultralight sailplane. While mine is modified, the airfoil is the same.

I had great concerns about the stall/spin problem as I witnessed a fellow sailplane club member spin into the river near our airfield two years ago. I have been very cautious about the learning curve with my homebuilt Magic Dragon and always aware of the potential for spin, especially near the terrain.

I have to tell you though, that my glider feels very much like a flex wing hang glider in slow flight. The stall is very predictable and I believe the tips are the last to stall. This gives one the confidence to fly the same proximity to the terrain as with my Litespeed and I would never attempt such flight in a conventional sailplane.

It is, without question, the easiest to fly sailplane I've ever been in. Some of its pleasant stall characteristics undoubtedly come from the way the airfoil varies across the span and that it is, I believe, a non laminar airfoil so the result of airflow separation isn't so dramatic at stall. I can't tell you exactly why it is so pleasant and reassuring to fly but from my perspective, Mr.Culver's influence ads a whole lot of fun to the sailplane experience.

As I built it, I was surprised to see that each of the wing ribs were different, not just a scaled down version of the one inboard to account for the taper. They met the main spar at a different angle that built twist into the wing without twisting the main spars and shear web. And the overall shape was slightly different as well.

The front of the inboard ribs much sharper in profile than the rather rounded stubby outboard ribs. I've asked people who new Irv about this wing's airfoil and they usually say that it was an "Irv Culver special". Wish I had a chance to know him.

Stephen J Morris,«mlbco»,writes:

I've glanced at the article. The amount and distribution of twist necessary in a tailless design depends on many factors, some of which are:

1) Trim at a given level of pitch stability and airfoil pitching moment
2) Resistance to tip stall
3) Amount of Aspect ratio, sweep, taper, and type of airfoil sections
4) Minimization of total drag at various flight conditions
5) Effect on lateral handling qualities (dutch roll and spiral stability, adverse yaw, etc.)

Some of these factors are more important than others, for example, if the wing isn't pitch stable and trimmed, who cares if it's got low drag!

The variables aspect ratio, sweep, taper, and type of airfoil sections have a first order effect on how much twist is needed to achieve, stability, resistance to tip stall, etc... This means a tailless design with a different wing planform and airfoil section will need a different twist distribution to be an acceptable flier. Designers have some freedom in how much twist to use depending on how important they feel stability is versus low drag (for example).

I won't comment on who's designs have 'better' twist than others since I've only closely studied Bright Star's designs.

We have found several things that relate twist to spins. It is possible to twist a wing for low drag and a straight-ahead stall break, yet still be able to spin. In general, excessive twist (noticeable performance degradation) is necessary to make spins 'near impossible' on low-speed high-aspect ratio gliders. In all of our tests, our gliders can stall without spinning if the airflow is still attached just behind the leading edge at the wing tip (i.e. flow separated no more than 50% chord at tip). If the separation moves to the leading edge on one wing, a spin entry will occur. In calm air you can fly a Millennium into and out of stall without spinning. In rowdy air the extra turbulence may cause an instantaneous leading edge separation and a spin entry. Flying faster is the best way to minimize the chance of a spin, but it is also crucial not to thermal close to terrain and other gliders if the air is very rough.

On our control bar prototypes we were able to adjust the control bar position so that pilots felt the glider could not spin due to pilot inputs (in smooth air). In rowdy air the pilot can no longer control the angle of attack so precisely and a spin entry can still occur. Flying faster lowers the angle of attack change for a given strength of vertical gust. You can see this just by drawing the vectors, the vertical gust stays the same size and when the airspeed is bigger the change in angle is smaller, reducing the likelihood of stalling.

In flying wing design there are more design myths than design facts. People often talk about Horten twist, Culver twist, Kasper vortex control, and a myriad of other design recipes. But in the modern era, designers normally consider all the factors and pick their own amount of twist according to trade-offs in performance, handling, and stability. Designers use computer analysis and extensive flight testing to accomplish this. I would never use a simplistic recipe for twist on a flying wing design unless I was duplicating someone else's aircraft precisely.

Dave Swanson, «davidrsw», responds:

Steve Morris wrote: I've glanced at the article. The amount and distribution of twist necessary in a tailless design depends on many factors, some of which are:

>1) Trim at a given level of pitch stability and airfoil pitching moment

Already designed into current rigid wings. ;-)

>2) Resistance to tip stall Steve later says: We have found several things that relate twist to spins. It is possible to twist a wing for low drag and a straight-ahead stall break, yet still be able to spin.

Current rigid wings fit here. ;-)

He goes on to say: In general, excessive twist (noticeable performance degradation) is necessary to make spins 'near impossible' on low-speed high-aspect ratio gliders.

This sounds like a flex wing to me. ;-)

And more from Steve:

>3) Amount of Aspect ratio, sweep, taper, and type of airfoil sections

Rigids and flexies seem to work. ;-)

Steve:

>4) Minimization of total drag at various flight conditions

Ultralight sailplanes do this the best. Oh, but they have a tail. ;-) Well, then let's compromise. Both types of current flying wings do pretty well. Flexies have a difficult time spinning and rigids have good performance. So, what's the difference? Among other things: twist distribution and amount. The Culver Twist does this. Flex wings have a large amount of wing twist starting the keel, while rigids start their reasonable amount but at half span. hmmm... ;-)

Steve:

>5) Effect on lateral handling qualities (dutch roll and spiral stability, adverse yaw, etc.)

Hang gliders seem to work very well here.

Steve: Some of these factors are more important than others, for example, if the wing isn't pitch stable and trimmed, who cares if it's got low drag!

All hang gliders are pitch stable and trimmed, but rigids don't have the same type or amount of twist as a flex. The Culver Twist shows us how.

Steve: The variables aspect ratio, sweep, taper, and type of airfoil sections have a first order effect on how much twist is needed to achieve, stability, resistance to tip stall, etc... This means a tailless design with a different wing planform and airfoil section will need a different twist distribution to be an acceptable flier. Designers have some freedom in how much twist to use depending on how important they feel stability is versus low drag (for example).

But no designer has used the Culver Twist on a flying wing outside of Danny Howell and Don Mitchell and both of their designs flew very well. Somebody want to ask Mitch McAleer if he could spin the Apex?

The Culver Twist formula takes into account the design lift coefficient, the aspect ratio of the complete wing, and the sweep angle of the wing. Excessive taper leads to tip stall. There are airfoils that have a more gentle stall and still have low drag.

Steve's exactly correct that it's not just about the amount of twist. It's the location of the twist. So just where do you twist the wing: around which axis of rotation? Do you twist the wing around the leading edge, the 1/4 chord, middle of the shear web, or the upper or lower surfaces? This has been worked out by at least one designer of rigids, so why not others?

What kind of lift distribution do you want across the span for a flying wing? What kind do we have right now on current designs? The smartest aerodesigner that I've ever met is Irv Culver and the second is Danny Howell. Danny had a fellowship with Irv. But then I'm very biased. ;-)

Rigid spins – it's all in how you twist it »

Thu, Aug 3 2000, 6:00:01 am EDT

Carbon Dragon|Culver Twist|Dave Sharp|Dave Swanson|Ghostbuster|Rigid spins|sailplane

Dave Swanson, «davidrsw», writes:

(editor's note: This material comes to me in a number of e-mail messages. I have edited it to be a bit more coherent.)

While I don't have the actual twist distribution of the ATOS, I do for the Ghostbuster.

(editor's note: See below for ATOS twist.)

The ATOS twist does seem to be similar however. The problem is that it appears that both do *not* have the proper Irv Culver Twist for a flying wing.

In Feb. '86, Irv wrote a paper discussing the stability of tailless flying wings. He discusses tumbling, pitch and yaw damping, poor span-loading, and aero elastics. The section of span-loading is very much related to the current problem of spins. He uses a unique twist distribution to achieve an optimum span-loading and reduced induced drag. This is the Culver Twist.

Current rigid wings seem to have the conventional tailed-aircraft twist distribution. They don't even come close to the twist distribution of a flex wing. So without a tail and rudder behind the conventional wing twist distribution, it would seem that spins are expected rather than a rare problem.

The solution to the rigid wing spin problem is to retwist all rigids to the Culver Twist. The spin problem will go away. Any gates or fences will add more drag and don't fix the underlying problem.

A readjustment of the ribs will solve the problem!! Culver Twist = No spins

Irv Culver was the chief aerodynamicist at the Lockheed Skunkworks for probably 30 - 40 yrs. He gave the place its name. He helped design the shape of the SR-71. He designed many sailplanes including the Screaming Weenie in the 1930's and the Carbon Dragon in the '80's.

This fabulous man retired to Tehachapi, CA. This is where I met him. Dan Armstrong and Les King can tell you so much more about him, but he "wrote a paper" covering just about everything aerodynamic.

One of these papers is "Tailless - Flying Wings". I plan on scanning this paper and posting it for all to see. Irv passed away about 1.5 yrs. ago. What a brilliant man!!! This is the reason that Don Mitchell calls this twist idea the "Culver Twist."

Don used the Culver Twist on his last ship, the Stealth II. So please call this twist distribution the "Culver Twist". BTW, Irv was humble and wouldn't like to see his name on it, but he's gone and I do. ;-) His paper talks about some other flying wing subjects that will be of importance to all of us.

Dave Sharp writes:

On the ATOS, I do know that about on the rib # 5 it's about 1 degree and moves up progressively to near or at 7 degrees at the last rib. One could take a digital level like they do at the Atos factory and get an exact measurement and I'm sure with some basic math calculate the total twist with respect to span.

Dave Swanson replies:

That's what I'm looking for :-) This info seems to match what most rigid wings have for twist (washout). Something like this seems to be typical: Root (keel) = 0° angle of attack (aoa), 1st - 4th ribs = 0°, 5th rib = -1.25°, 6th rib = -2.5°, 7th rib = -3.75°, 8th rib = -5°. Even if we increase the twist to say -7° at the 8th rib, we still have all the twist on the outboard portion of the wing span. This is what we see with conventional wing washout of a tailed aircraft. Tailed aircraft have a rudder to get out of a spin.

So how much and where should the twist distribution be in a flying wing? Conventional aircraft (w/ a tail) have all their twist toward the wing tip and it works very well. The current crop of rigids seems to do the same thing. Unfortunately this is the worst place to put it if one is trying to prevent a spin on a flying wing. There must be twist in a flying wing but the Culver Twist solves the spin and stall problems, all at the same time.

So what is the Culver Twist you ask? A flex wing has >20° of washout (from root to tip). Rigids have around 5-7° of twist (washout). Now what is the distribution of this twist across the span? This is where the Culver Twist comes in.

Flex wings just happen to have the Culver Twist as a result of their flexible sail cloth. The most efficient twist distribution and the one that prevents a spin (not a tumble) is to have a semi-elliptical twist distribution. Most of the twist must be done at the root (in the first 1/3rd of span). Notice the difference:

Twist

1st rib

2nd rib

3rd rib

4th rib

5th rib

6th rib

7th rib

8th rib

Flex

0

-5

-10

-15

-20

-22

-25

-28

Rigid

0

0

0

0

-1.25

-2.5

-3.75

-5

Culver

-2

-5

-5.5

-6

-6.5

-7

-7.5

-8

[Say the 1st rib is near the root and the 8th rib is the tip.]

Notice how there is more twist at the root in the flex and Culver twist? The Culver Twist gives the stability to prevent tip stalls and spins and gives great efficiency with reduced drag of low twist.

All flying wings should have their twist towards the root. No current rigid wing does this, so this leads to a tip stall and a spin. Here's how:

A rigid is in a slow turn. The pilot pushes out until the root of both wings are stalled. The pilot adds some spoiler to the inside wing, which stalls some of the tip area. So we have the root area (say about 1/3rd of the wing area) of the inside wing and the tip (say 1/4th of the wing area) of the inside wing stalled.

The entire wing loading of the inside wing is now carried by the remaining half of the wing area (1/3 root + 1/4 tip = 7/12 =approx 1/2). So what happens to the stall speed if we cut off half of the wing area?

The wing loading goes up, which results in a higher stall speed for the still flying wing area. This still flying area may or may not stall. If the glider speed is higher than the local flying area stall speed, then no stall and no spin. But what if the stall progresses from the root out through the still flying wing area? This is where the wing twist comes in.

If the mid-span still flying area has the *same* or almost the same angle of attack as the root and coupled with the higher wing loading, then the mid-span area will stall too. Here's your spin!! An entire wing is now stalled.

In the typical rigid mid-span area, the local angle of attack (aoa) is either the same as the root or within 2° of the root, so it will be much more prone to stall and lead to a spin. The mid-span area of a Culver Twist wing is a full 5° from the root stall aoa, thus it won't stall. No spin will occur. The same happens for a flex wing.

The numbers that I chose to illustrate the Culver Twist are for a thermalling glider and not a racer. A racer Culver Twist would be something like:

Twist

1st rib

2nd rib

3rd rib

4th rib

5th rib

6th rib

7th rib

8th rib

Culver

-2

-4.5

5

-5.25

-5.5

-5.75

-6

-6.25

Notice how the majority of the twist is within the first 30% of the span? 5° of twist in the first 30% of span (let's say) and 1.25° in the remaining 70%. This is how we can prevent tip stalls and spins. This should be fairly easy to do with new rib placements. No large redesign is needed.

I'd like to thank Felix and Mike for kick starting the rigid wing movement!! I had a blast flying the Exxtacy when you gents brought it down to Torrey Pines way back there in '97.

US Nationals »

Sat, Jul 15 2000, 10:00:01 am EDT

Chris Muller|Ghostbuster|Jim Lee|Paris Williams|Ralph Hyde|US Nationals|weather

Chris Muller|Ghostbuster|Jim Lee|Mark Grubbs|Paris Williams|Ralph Hyde|US Nationals|weather

Chris Muller|Ghostbuster|Jim Lee|Jim Yocum|Mark Grubbs|Paris Williams|Ralph Hyde|US Nationals|weather

Ralph Hyde, «ralphyde», writes:

Lakeview : the results of the "Diving for Dollars" pre-Nationals race from Sugar Hill to Hunters Hot Springs, on Saturday: 1st: Paris Williams - Fusion 27:59 (start gate to goal - about 20 miles) 2nd: Chris Muller - Fusion 28:56 3rd: Jim Lee - Fusion 30:31

Class 2: 1st: Mark Grubbs - Ghostbuster - 38:01 2nd: Jim Yocum - ATOS - 38:11

Lakeview Nationals: First day's task (Sunday) cancelled due to weather (overcast and rain later).

The European Championships »

Wed, Jul 12 2000, 7:00:00 pm EDT

Christof Kratzner|Dave Sharp|Ghostbuster|Johann Posch|John Aldridge|Manfred Ruhmer|Marcus Hoffmann|Niki Longshore|weather

John Aldridge, «HGMeethead», writes:

The organisers had advance notification of just nine Class 2 entries and were worrying that not all would turn up as they need a minimum of 8 entries from 5 different nations to validate this as a European Championship. They are delighted to find that they now have twelve Class 2 entries including three full teams (3 pilots per team). Unfortunately Niki Hamilton could not make it here to join Cookie and give us a chance at the team medals. Confirmed entries are:

Austria: Johann Posch, ATOS(Pacific Northwest pilot),Manfred Trimmel, ATOS, Toni Ramauf, ATOS

Germany: Christof Kratzner, ATOS, Marcus Hoffmann-Gube, ATOS, Bernd Weber, ATOS

UK: Steve Cook, Top Secret(this should be interesting)

Italy: Graziano Maffi, Ixbo

Portugal: Felix Ruhle, ATOS

Switzerland: Peter Vogel, ATOS, Diego Bussinger, ATOS, Gotthard Menzi, ATOS

If an ATOS does not win they will have no excuses with the Class 2 World Champion and all but two of the remaining pilots on their wings. No Escapes, Ghostbusters, etc., present. I may be subject to correction here, but I can only spot three pilots here with some top level Class 1 background: Christof, Cookie and Toni Ramauf. It will be interesting to see if these guys monopolize the top positions.

Christof is flying a new ATOS after his little adventure in Spain and he tells me he also has a new parachute and a fresh set of underwear!

Unfortunately the weather is not cooperating at the moment and no tasks have been flown. Monday was blown out and Tuesday is in cloud - wet cloud. From the beginning the forecast has indicated that Thursday will be the earliest task day and the organisers are planning a short task under a low cloudbase and ahead of a warm front. Some pilots with local experience have suggested a task may have to wait until Saturday so we all hope for a weather slot tomorrow. Pilots who were here last year have exhausted the local attractions.

(editor's note: As I recall, Dave Sharp and I flew on the last day of the pre-Europeans last year, which was the best day of the meet. It was flyable the day before, but just barely. The rest of the pre-Europeans were rained out.)

Chelan – the bittersweet »

Sun, Jul 9 2000, 8:45:00 pm EDT

Belinda Boulter|Chelan|Davis Straub|Ghostbuster|Larry Jorgensen|Paul Gallagher|Tag Cummings

Belinda Boulter|Chelan|Davis Straub|Ghostbuster|Kelly Harrison|Larry Jorgensen|Paul Gallagher|Tag Cummings

Belinda Boulter|Chelan|Davis Straub|Ghostbuster|Kelly Harrison|Larry Jorgensen|Paul Gallagher|Tag Cummings

I got the final results on Sunday morning, so you can see an update below. Hopefully Tag Cummings will figure out again how to write to a file with Lionel's scoring program and I'll be able to get a file from him of the full results soon. Tag works for Dell, and he was nice enough to loan me another PC Card modem to try out.

The Stuck Pigs won the driver contest with double the points of the second place team. It is great to see a group with such a topical name. The head stuck pig, Tom Johns, won the flex wing division. I don't think they were referring to king-posted gliders. :-)

Chelan was beautiful yesterday, and the cu's put on an incredible pink display over the flats as the sun set. What magic.

Sunday morning there was a lot of scud, and left over clouds, but by noon, there was lots of vertical development and beautiful cu's over the Butte and out on the flats. It looked like folks should have been getting off at 11 AM (but they were down at Lakeside Park at the awards ceremony).

By the time we left Chelan around 1:30 PM, a cu nimb to the west had exploded and there was rain and dark shadows over the Butte. Still plenty of areas to escape the OD to the east though. Still a southwest wind.

Hang gliding is a lot more fun when you get to do it with your friends (in my case, former friends). It gives a context, meaning, and encouragement. Sometimes hang gliding isn't all that fun, like when Larry, Kelly Harrison, and I were coring up at the Bump-in-the-road, on Saturday. I thought Larry's strategy was to lose me by getting me in a thermal that would be too scary. It was, but I held on. Turns out everyone else was scared too.

Thankfully, there was a lot of really pleasant thermals and glides in Chelan, and I must admit, I really enjoy flying here (although apparently not the week before the Classic). It is so beautiful and it can be so much fun.

I hated to leave Chelan on Sunday. Belinda and I had such a good time, once again. The Local Myth Pizza house is by far the best dining in Chelan. The lady at the bookstore was great with her Harry Potter midnight party and Internet access for Belinda and I.

Like every other pilot in the Northwest, I love Chelan, and will always be happy when I can go back and fly there. It's just not as much fun after the Classic, when every one goes home for while. I wish we could stay there all summer and fly every day that looks good. It's hard sometimes to do this alone.

Day Six:

1

Davis Straub

ATOS

688

2

David Little

Exxtacy

668

3

Tom Johns

Fusion

584

4

Mike Daily

K5

568

5

Dave Gibson

Stealth

548

Cumulative:

1

Davis Straub

ATOS

4064

2

David Little

Exxtacy

3574

3

Larry Jorgensen

Ghostbuster

3524

4

Paul Gallagher

Exxtacy

2736

5

Tom Johns

Fusion

2258

The full results will be up on my web site at http://www.davisstraub.com/chelan at some point.

Chelan – sixth day of the CXCC »

Sat, Jul 8 2000, 8:45:01 pm EDT

Chelan|Chelan Cross Country Classic|David Glover|Davis Straub|dust devil|Ghostbuster|Larry Jorgensen|Paul Gallagher|weather|Wills Wing

Such an amazing beast that lives here at the end of the 50 mile long lake, dug deep (1500') by the glaciers.

I awoke at 5 AM, as is usual for a contest day, to find a gray sky and wondered if it meant that the day would be too weak to count. Everything depends on this last day, but it had to be good to count.

As we got up the hill the sky was a smorgasbord of cloud types. Lots of cirrus. Lenticulars near the mountains to the west. Middle level scud over the Butte. Cu's both in the mountain and a few over the flats. Lots of shade, few dust devils, and a mottled sky. It didn't look that promising.

The weather forecast calls for southwast winds at 6 mph, and the trigger temperature rising 6 degrees to 77 degrees, about the high temperature for the day. The height of the minus three goes down to 5,000'. Will we be able to fly?

A few pilots get off before 1 PM, but only Kevin Cosley manages to get up in his Wills Wing Eagle. The rest of us wait.

The scud is slowly moving away, and those of us who are watching are watching the shade move away toward the east on the Butte's lower southwest face. Paul Gallagher is getting ready, and finally the sun comes out on top at 1:30 PM.

Gallagher is flaying about out in front just over the top for five minutes, when suddenly he starts rocketing up. It's time to get off the hill, right now. The thermals is right over the between the rocks launch, and we want to get away from the Butte in case the scud decides to return.

In no time at all, Paul and I are hanging at 8,000'. I'm waiting for Larry to get up below me so that I can cling to him. We are being pushed toward the north, but still we all head east to get up on the flats. By now there are lots of cu's over the flats.

In fact, the flats are cooking, and we get up right away. The winds are strong out of the south, and there is no thought of heading south to get Withrow or Farmer. We are barely able to keep going east without drifting too far to the north.

The north is a problem as it turns quickly into tiger country the further east you go. We want to stay on the flats.

Paul stays high in his Exxtacy, but Larry and I get low just before Sims Corner. Now we have to go with the flow toward Leahy Junction searching around for scraps of lift. We are really scooting over the ground, but we do find something and work it up over Leahy. Larry doesn't get it quite as well, and soon I'm 1000' over him.

Larry runs north away from the northeast road to Grand Coulee Dam. It seems to me that we are headed into a corner at the dam. North of the dam are the hills, trees, lack of roads, the lack of bridges to get over the river. Pilots often get stuck right at the dam.

I turn and run to the southeast, to get under better clouds, and to give myself a chance to get over Banks Lake and out on the flats to the east.

It turns out that Larry will soon land, but I've left him and I don't know this. I've been sticking to him, but now I'm going to have to guess how far I have to fly to win the meet.

With the strong drift (22 mph out of the south at 10,000'), I work my way up under good cu's to the west of Grand Coulee. There is rain and a big cu nimb twenty miles further to the north on the Indian reservation, and I'm doing everything I can to avoid going in this direction. I can as high as I can in order to have enough height to go to the east.

10,400' is plenty as I move east north of Grand Coulee and up in the hills north of the Columbia River. Travis, my driver, is working the maps, trying to figure out how to follow me. He hopes the ferry is operating.

Most of the cu's have disappeared from the flats, as cirrus has come over and cut the sunshine, still there are plenty of cu's up here in the hills. I can move easily east down the ridgelines as I try to figure out where the east/west road might be. Northwest of Wilbur and on the north side of the Columbia, I decide to shoot for the south side of the river, sending Travis back to Grand Coulee to pick up the highway on the south side. I'm able to land in an isolated wheat field right on the south side of the river. It is quite turbulent because of the high winds coming down the south face of the riverbank.

Later looking at the map, it seems that I could have continued further to the east along the north side of the river, staying under the cu's and still be able to have my driver catch up by going back to the south first. Oh well, live and learn.

Paul Gallagher didn't go south at Sims, but went north to land north of Grand Coulee near Nespelem. Dave Little got a turnpoint at Withrow and Mansfield, but despairing of making it back to the Butte, turned north and went to Omak.

Here is my guess as to the final outcome. The full real results will be up later on my web site.

Day Six:

1

David Little

Exxtacy

700?

2

Davis Straub

ATOS

690?

3

Paul Gallagher

Exxtacy

600?

4

Larry Jorgensen

Ghostbuster

400?

Cumulative:

1

Davis Straub

ATOS

4070?

2

Larry Jorgensen

Ghostbuster

3500?

3

David Little

Exxtacy

3400?

4

Paul Gallagher

Exxtacy

2700?

The full results will be up on my web site at http://www.davisstraub.com/chelan.

Staff photographer: David Glover

Chelan – fifth day of the CXCC »

Fri, Jul 7 2000, 8:45:01 pm EDT

Belinda Boulter|Chelan|Chelan Cross Country Classic|Davis Straub|dust devil|Ghostbuster|Larry Jorgensen|Paul Gallagher|PG|record|sailplane|Scott Rutledge|Tryg Hoff|weather

Did I say Chelan was great? Everyone here thinks I said "Chelan sucks." The fact that there were a few qualifiers that went along with that statement, seems to have passed everyone here by. I wrote that statement to help folks who are thinking of coming to Chelan to see it in a wider context. The locals continue to see the messenger and not the message. Oh, well.

Today, Chelan went back to what we really want and hope for from Chelan. No more over development and it warms up a little.

By the time, we are up the hill at 10:30 AM, there are nice little fluffy cu's, well dispersed out on the flats. Their bases are above 9,000', and there is no chance for over development.

The windcast from yesterday forecasts light winds for today, but the weather service was now calling for southwest winds at 5-15 mph on the surface, and higher above.

Around now we finally start getting a few cu's over the Butte, and the paragliders start staying up, so it is time to get off the hill. It's still a bit tricky getting up at the Butte, and Tryg Hoff gets low and goes down in his ATOS. This is going to drop him out of fourth place.

David Little on the Exxtacy gets up early, but doesn't stay high, and we get up through him. Paul Gallagher, Larry Jorgensen, and I climb to the top after finally finding some 600 fpm lift to 8,600' MSL.

The Classic is a very strategic meet. Only your best four days count, so it doesn't matter what your cumulative score is. All the matters are your best four days. Tomorrow, is the fifth day with any real scores, and everything changes tomorrow. Since it looks like it will be good like today, we'll all be dropping out a lower score, from a weak day. Like yesterday, or the second day.

Knowing this, all I have to do is stick with Larry Jorgensen, who leads me overall, but is actually 22 miles behind me, because he will be dropping out a better day than I will. Larry, with me trailing, heads across and toward Withrow to the southeast. As we get south of Jensen's farm, we see Dave Little come in low underneath us. There are cu's and sunlit fields everywhere. The lift is strong, and we are getting up over 8,000' MSL.

The winds are 10 mph out of the south. It is a struggle to get up wind to get the first turnpoint at Farmer, but with the good lift, we get there quickly. I'm sticking to Larry, but I'm willing to help. If he would just tell me where he is going, I would be able to take the lead more often.

Larry is topping out every thermal even as the lift slows down. He's not as bad as Scott Rutledge was about this last year, but clearly he isn't racing. I have to stick with him, so I'm not racing either.

We make our way down to Dry Falls 34 miles from the Butte, and it looks like Larry is going to do an 80-mile triangle. Plenty of points here, so I don't expect too much competition from Dave Little whose in third. I can't cover him and Larry at the same time.

I leave lift that is a little too good at the bottom of Banks Lake and rush toward more fat cu's on the way toward Sims Corner. I figure that Larry won't try to get a few extra miles by going to Leahy as the cu's are a bit sparse up there.

We get stuck at Sims in light lift as we head back toward the Butte. I spot a sailplane real low, and Larry latter tells me that the sailplane landed out. There is a big sailplane contest going on out here also (the Nationals?) so we see a lot of sailplanes, but most not so low.

Larry and I have to work together to get through the lift that has suddenly turned light, after being so strong all the way around the first two legs. I move out ahead and find us a bit of lift from low and we stay in 100 fpm till we're 4000' AGL.

We move cautiously back toward the Butte. Belinda tells me that on the ground the winds are light out of the southeast. Great for triangles.

I'm low again at the Bump in the road, where the dust devil that I had spotted doesn't produce anything. Larry is 1,000' over me and moving further south and west. I have to run for the sunlight to the north and perpendicular to the Butte.

Fortunately there are plenty of cu's to the north, and while I get down to 600' AGL, I hook the best thermal of the trip back to the Butte and climb to 8,600' MSL at 800 fpm. Larry meantime is down low and searching for lift in the dark.

He finds it and climbs out to cloud base as I scoot into the Junkyard. How the question is, will he get the turnpoint at the Butte Towers and go out for extra points. He's tired and doesn't, so we end up dueling for 5 and ½ hours and tying.

He must realize that if I continue to track him tomorrow, that I'll win the meet. I wonder if he can come up with a strategy to get me off his tail.

Day Five:

1

Davis Straub

ATOS

1272

1

Larry Jorgensen

Ghostbuster

1272

3

Paul Gallagher

Exxtacy

1074

4

David Little

Exxtacy

1000?

5

Jim Murray

Flex

898

Cumulative:

1

Larry Jorgensen

Ghostbuster

3525

2

Davis Straub

ATOS

3438

3

David Little

Exxtacy

3073?

4

Paul Gallagher

Exxtacy

2073

5

Jim Murray

Flex

1901

The full results soon are up on my web site at http://www.davisstraub.com/chelan. The day four and five results aren't there yet.

Speaking of an overall evaluation of how Chelan Butte treats cross country pilots, let's look at the record for the CXCC for this year so far. We've had four days of flying. Twenty five of the thirty two flex wing pilots who are here have racked up less than 100 miles (with bonus multipliers) total each for all four days combined. No flex wing pilot has averaged over 50 miles per day. Mike Daily, who, as I recall, is a former CXCC winner, has averaged less than 35 miles a day. Seven pilots haven't made it across the gorge.

Wing Rag

Thu, Jul 6 2000, 8:45:04 pm EDT

David Glover|Ghostbuster

This section is reserved for just total wild rumors. No fact checking what so ever (as though the rest of the Oz Report has an editor for its editor).

One ATOS pilot has told me that he has measured his regular sized ATOS 145, three times. Every time he comes up with 137 (sq ft).

Spoke with a Ghostbuster pilot in the recent past. He said that he loves the glider in regular lift, but that the strong stuff gives him the feeling that the bar is going to be ripped out of his hands. It just gets close to over powering him. He loved flying the Exxtacy and never had this problem. Wouldn't suggest taking it to the Owens in the summer.

Staff photographer: David Glover

Chelan – fourth day of the CXCC »

Thu, Jul 6 2000, 8:45:02 pm EDT

Chelan|Chelan Cross Country Classic|Davis Straub|Ghostbuster|Larry Jorgensen|Paul Gallagher|Peter Gray|PG|Tryg Hoff

Chelan|Chelan Cross Country Classic|Davis Straub|Ghostbuster|John "Ole" Olson|Larry Jorgensen|Paul Gallagher|Peter Gray|PG|Tryg Hoff

(?-i)John "Ole" Olson|Chelan|Chelan Cross Country Classic|Davis Straub|Ghostbuster|Larry Jorgensen|Paul Gallagher|Peter Gray|PG|Tryg Hoff

Chelan|Chelan Cross Country Classic|Davis Straub|Ghostbuster|John "Ole" Olson|Larry Jorgensen|Paul Gallagher|Peter Gray|PG|Tryg Hoff

It's another bizarre day at the Butte. Yesterday, those of us who got off early, soared. Then the hammer came down and the Butte was shaded out until around 4 PM.

Today, I could see the cu's forming on the rim to the east at 9:30 AM (unlike 10:30 AM, the day before). By the time we got to the top at 10:30 AM, there was plenty of vertical development on the cu's along the rim and to our south. Ooh, it looked like over development was even more likely today.

The trigger temperature had gone up two degrees to 69 degrees, but, of course, it was already warmer than that early in the morning out on the flats (think of flat plates). Would the pilots who were late get stuck again?

David Little is off first, but unlike on Wednesday, he is just floating around about 200' over the top of the Butte. Mike Daily is next in his flex wing, but he is a big guy. He sinks slowly out. I'm in line next, with Larry Jorgensen right behind me, and Paul Gallagher on his Exxtacy, right behind him. I'm waiting for a sign.

Thank goodness for the paragliders, as one gets off Ants-in-the-Pants, and finds the good thermal right in front of launch. We bail off.

Larry behind me gets it first and I dribble up underneath him and Dave. Even Paul gets above me at the Butte as we climb out to cloud base. The Butte is still in sunshine, but there is plenty of cirrus to keep the heating down, and the cu's from the south are coming closer.

I finally hook a screamer and twist up through Paul, who just seems to want to wait around on top to see what we do. Larry and Dave are off at the power lines to the south of Jensen's farm, working junk. I make it their way, and we arrive at about the same altitude scratching for the lift under all these clouds, over sunlight plowed fields. There has got to be something good here.

There is a light downpour to our northeast, and another further over toward Mansfield. It looks like we've got to take a southern route to get around the rain, and of course, the wind in blowing about 10 mph out of the south. Not at all like the windcast forecast.

Dave and Larry find a little something and start working it. I go off to find a little something, that doesn't work as well, and slowly they climb on me. As they head south, I go back to the north, find a much better core, and again scream to cloud base at 8,000'.

I'm able to catch right up with Dave and Larry. I can't find Paul, who must have seen us get up and come over by now.

Larry and I head south toward Withrow, fighting a good headwind, and heading for even more clouds, whose shadows are surrounded by sunlit fields. I drive forward, ignoring some of the more broken, weak, and unpleasant lift, to get the turnpoint at Withrow. Larry is right behind me, and a bit higher, having stayed back to get up a bit more.

Oh, Oh, it is sink city past the turnpoint, even though we race downwind and toward Sims. I get too low and land just a few hundred feet under Larry, as he begins to turn. Looks like I swung for the fence and struck out.

I'm cursing my bad decision making, as Larry hooks a good one and drifts back fast toward Mansfield. So much for lift every where. I'm thinking that this is a big day, and I've just blown it. I'd been in some strong lift, that felt great, and I figure if Larry can avoid the OD to the north, he's looking good to take a strong lead.

I have to hike the glider out for a mile, so it takes me a while to get back on the road, and up the Butte for a reflight. I figure I flew 74 miles after 4:30 PM yesterday, and I might be able to pull that stunt off again.

I'm hearing that Larry is headed for Sims, and that Paul Gallagher has made Sims straight and is heading back. Not bad in a strong south wind.

All the competitors are gone by the time, I'm back on top at the Butte. The whole northern half of the sky is black and it's shooting out feelers to the south. We're hearing from Paul that he is down at the Brewster airport, 22 miles to the north, and right in the heart of the blackest areas. It turns out he runs into a north wind just by Bridgeport, so he was flying in the convergence. He gets soaked. Larry and Dave are down near Sims, which seems to suck in a lot of pilots.

I get off between the rocks, and climb up to 5,200'. Very low, but there isn't much lift at the Butte, and it is blowing hard from the south. I race over to the point at the top of McNeel Canyon, as that's where the clouds are. It is raining hard to the north and I can see the lightning, but there are some good cu's just a few miles in from the rim. I'm hoping they are pulling some air from the rim toward the east.

I have to ridge soar for a few minutes a few hundred feet below the rim, but there are indeed some thermals there. I climb out to 8,000' drifting fast to the east and toward the big cu's.

Driving to the southeast to avoid the cu nimb, I get more lift then I feel comfortable with and leave again at 8,000'. The cloud base is probably 9 or even 10,000', but I'm going up so fast, and it is a long ways to the edge of the cloud. The ground is all dark for the next ten miles, but I'm racing toward the sunny edge to the east.

The sunny edge keeps moving away too fast, and even at 40 mph, I can't catch it. I land 27 miles out, south of the pothills, the last marker before Sims. This puts my in sixth for the day.

Turns out with everyone landing early in the dark, that no one goes real far. Paul Gallagher wins the day, as he was willing to wrestle with the beast. He said it was bad.

Day Four:

1

Paul Gallagher

Exxtacy

565

2

Larry Jorgensen

Ghostbuster

369

3

David Little

Exxtacy

367

4

Mike Frey

Flex

346

5

Tryg Hoff

ATOS

310

Cumulative:

1

Larry Jorgensen

Ghostbuster

2253

2

Davis Straub

ATOS

2166

3

David Little

Exxtacy

2073

4

Tryg Hoff

ATOS

1633

5

Peter Gray

Laminar ST

1474

The full results soon are up on my web site at http://www.davisstraub.com/chelan. The day four results aren't there yet.

Avron on ATOS

Wed, Jul 5 2000, 6:00:05 pm EDT

Ghostbuster

Avron Tal,«avtal», writes in the rigid wing digest, and let's me republish here:

Before we start kids, you have to know that I'm the bad wolf. That is, I'm a dealer of Flight Design and may be bias. I fly one of the first GhostBusters and flew an Exxtacy before that. All I write here is my own private thinking and I may be wrong.

My friend Ilan got a new Atos. When it arrived I helped him inspecting it for possible transport damage and had a chance to look at the craftsmanship. It is beautifully made and the carbon job looks smart. The only bad thing I could say about it is that Icaro marked the lines for the sail seams with black wide felt pan instead of a pencil and on a white sail its too much. One thing that made me wonder was the odd shape of the profile rear bottom. There is a kind of a step in the profile. Anyone knows what its for?

A week ago we went to Gaash, a coastal ridge and flew for an hour. No thermals, just smooth lift. There was no big difference showing. Although I was constantly above and faster, It could be because I'm usually higher (I'm such a genius ;-) ). The only way to tell was to switch gliders, but Ilan was nervous to fly mine GB in Gaash.

Last Friday I took the Atos for a thermal flight in Zichron. I tested it in slightly rough air near the hill and in lighter smooth air far outside close to the beach. Saturday I flew the GhostBuster with Ilan on his Atos and with Yaron on a Laminar MR200 in the same site for an hour. We where very close most of the time and even shared a thermal with a bald vulture for 10 minutes

My conclusion: Both gliders are close with performance and behavior. It is like taking two flight envelops and shifting them aside by 5%. The Atos shift is towards the slower flight envelope and the GB with retracted flaps towards the higher. Remember that when I say one is better at some aria it is not better more then those 5%.

First impression on the ground was - I like it. Lighter and easier to swing and turn around (was assembling with tail into 20 Km/h wind). Easy take off

First impression on the air - Its rocking about. Maybe also because the weight difference, the Atos is rocked by the air more then the GB. Ilan was complaining that the glider was changing its pitch pressure (Ilan is used to Topless by LaMuette). Indeed when a turbulent passed the pitch pressure is changing and the bar give a slight negative bump. It something that reminds the speed bumps but to much lesser effect. The GhostBuster feels more solid here. The Atos handling seamed a bit faster and lighter then the GB.

Stall: Both gliders as low stall speed but there is a different. Pushing slowly the bar gradually all the way out, the GhostBuster will stall in the end, bringing the nose sharply down, a 6-10 meters dive and the glider flies again. Doing the same with the Atos and it enter a mush flights with nose high and high sink. A hard push will bring the sharp stall but the nose does not falls hard as in the GB.

Thermalling is nice. The glider tends to fall into the turn a bit more then the GhostBuster does but this is easily controlled. The glider can be slowed more in turns and because of that it I could climb a bit tighter.

Thermalling with hands off - I hated it. The Atos will wind in and bank more and more. Regular flexi will spiral dive but here the feeling is like the glider is rolling over its wing and I stopped afraid of going over.

Flaps effect: The Atos flaps seemed to have more effect. You can spoil the L/D easier for a lending. The penalty here is an unpleasant pitch down when hitting a turbulent with full flaps. It got me nervous and I stopped checking farther on that.

Glide and speed: The GhostBuster is better here. Diving for speed the Atos bar pressure is a bit lighter but it has a definite speed bumps and I could not go over 80km/h. I can get the GhostBuster fly faster without bumps with flaps in or out. With retracted flaps the GhostBuster has a bit better glide.

Looking for troubles - spins: It is easier to get the Atos spinning while turning then the GhostBuster. I did not dare to let the spin develop and stooped it as soon as the wing sharply drooped. I'm not sure but I think that when the wing droop it is also going a bit towards the back like pushed by the drag. I think that on the GhostBuster it droops more down. On both gliders if a wing falls suddenly like a stone and the nose is pointing down you still need to pull hard towards your tummy or waist, in order to get the wing flying again. I was never brave enough to take it more then half a turn on my GhostBuster and I was less brave with the Atos. I am not sure but maybe the Atos tends to spin a bit more flat and the GhostBuster, more steep. One has to complete a full revolution to know and I hope that wont be me. Some hang glider pilots may think that it is crazy to fly a spinable wing but I am used to that from my radio model gliders days. Just keep a little spare speed and if in doubt pull more.

Conclusion again: Very close battle. Each glider has its strong and week pints. No obvious victor.

Chelan – third day of the CXCC »

Wed, Jul 5 2000, 6:00:02 pm EDT

Chelan|Chelan Cross Country Classic|Davis Straub|dust devil|Ghostbuster|Larry Jorgensen|Peter Gray|PG|Tryg Hoff

Chelan|Chelan Cross Country Classic|Davis Straub|dust devil|Ghostbuster|John "Ole" Olson|Larry Jorgensen|Peter Gray|PG|Tryg Hoff

(?-i)John "Ole" Olson|Chelan|Chelan Cross Country Classic|Davis Straub|dust devil|Ghostbuster|Larry Jorgensen|Peter Gray|PG|Tryg Hoff

Chelan|Chelan Cross Country Classic|Davis Straub|dust devil|Ghostbuster|John "Ole" Olson|Larry Jorgensen|Peter Gray|PG|Tryg Hoff

When Chelan is good, is can be very, very good. Was today the best light wind day ever in Chelan? (Chelan doesn't do that well with wind.) Could be. Today somebody scored the highest score ever for the Chelan Cross Country Classic. Maybe I did, maybe Dave Little, maybe someone else.

Check this out – the trigger temperature – 67 degrees. The high for today was predicted to be 76 at Ephrata.

67 degrees, and there was a bunch of sun out starting at 5 AM. No clouds then. You just knew it would be good – if it didn't over develop.

Given my late start yesterday, when it looked like we wouldn't fly, I'm up the Butte at 10:07 AM. Surprise, surprise, Larry Jorgensen, who's in first, is already there. He is never up early, as he has to drag the family around with him. Today he fobbed off Tina and kids with the neighbors. Larry is ready to win this thing.

Still Larry takes his time setting up, and I'm ready to go right away. Then it's time to wait as the little dust devils build on the Butte and the clouds begin to form out on the flats (they started at 10:30 AM). Please don't OD!

Thank goodness for the paragliders, as they start off earlier then the rest of us (kind of reminds me of Jon Elliot). The first few go down, but just before noon five of them slowly climb out to maybe 5,000' just above the Butte. The 67 degree trigger temperature is supposed to get us to 4,650' msl. It's a bit hotter already.

The clouds are getting thicker and it seems like it is time to go. I look off o the south, and oh god, it is OD! And it is coming are way. No cu nimbs or anything, but it is shaded out on the flats and soon the Butte will be overtaken. Bad!

David Little on his Exxtacy, Mike Dailey, and I are the only ones in line. Dave takes off and finds enough on the southwest face, and that's enough to get Mike and I off right after him. The Butte is about to go dark.

Mike finds the best core and we all take the freight train to 7,600'. Chelan Butte is doing what it's supposed to do, get us up quick in the fully packed thermal.

I core through the others and then in a brain fade hop over to the north at Deer Mountain, The wind is light and out of the south, and this is where all the paragliders went, but it is not the way to score the good points. I'm just running from the OD to the south. The whole rim for a few miles in is shaded.

Finally I decide that I have to go east if I'm going to rack up any point on the triangle system. I'm assuming that others are now getting up at the Butte, although we left before that happened. It's completely dark.

The lift is killer at Deer, and out on the flats when I get there. The cu's are filling in, and I'm thinking that I might have to run away to the east, which doesn't look so congested. Still there is only a south breeze, and that won't help get a long flight to the east. Triangle is still the ticket.

I work my way back to the southeast against the flow to get a turnpoint at Sims. Larry, on his Ghostbuster, was stuck on launch four gliders behind me. He's now working his way past Farmer heading east toward Coulee City. It's completely and utterly shaded where he is at. He is struggling. Dave is behind me heading toward Mansfield. He's in the light like me. I'm wondering what Larry is thinking. It's pretty cool that he is able to stay up at all. Like I said, 67 degree trigger temperature.

I get down to 300 feet just before Sims, but on my base leg, I go over a little hill to check it out. Takes me up a mile. There is a mixture of sun and clouds straight to Farmer. Larry is digging his way out of Moses Coulee. Dave is approaching Sim's as I cross Jameson Lake, and scrape a thermal off a sunny field just south of Withrow. I get high enough to make it back to the Butte to complete the Sims/Withrow/Butte triangle, but also high enough to risk going to Farmer for an extra 7 miles (times 15).

The dark is right at Farmer, but I figure if Larry can fly through it, I can at least touch it. No worries. With the flow now out of the southeast, I can hurry back to the sunny spots under the fluffy cu's. Ooh, I'm feeling good. The air is great. The thermals aren't like they were the week before. This really is Chelan.

Now it's time to go to the Butte, go around the towers and then head out for the bonus miles. I'm able to climb to 7,300' at the rim before crossing. I can see gliders working the Butte, so I know it's a good bet.

After rounding the towers, I scoot in under a likely little cloud heading toward McNeel Canyon, and sure enough everything is working. There is a big cloud street right on the rim, heading toward the north. It looks to me like it is now time to go north, like I wanted to do earlier in the day. I launched at noon. It is now 4:30 PM, and I'm starting a whole new flight.

The lift is a bit too powerful in McNeel, but I hold on long enough to get next to the flats and heading north. I don't quite get up on the flats, and have to work the east edge of the gorge (that's is west facing) in a southeast wind. I just drift along to the north until Iget to the end of the plateau at Brewster (20 miles to the north of the Butte), and finally work nothing, into something – 600 fpm – to 9,000'. I'm ready to go long.

It's a glide over the mountain to just past Mallot. Plenty of bits of lift along the various ridges as I head for the Okanogan River valley as fare north as I can go. I feel that this is it.

But, there is a big fat cu on the east side of the river, and as I get into the river valley, and down to 1,400' over the river, I spot a flash of a soaring bird. That thermal at 6 PM takes we from 2,500' MSL to cloud base 9,000' MSL. When I get there it is hailing on me. I climb out at 600 fpm.

Now it's a clear shot past Omak and up toward Tonasket. I'm getting lift where I would never get lift on a regular high pressure day – remember – 67 degrees. I coast along a ridge by the river, and work the hot rocks. The sun is going down behind a bank of clouds, but the rocks keep working.

I'm able to work these dribs and drabs for the net ten miles and then I get to land at a grass strip owned by a hang glider pilot (total coincidence). The total distance is 150 miles. With the 1.5 multiplier for the triangle, it may be close to the first 200 pseudo miler in Chelan Classic history.

Then again, I saw David Little coming to get the towers as I was leaving. Last I heard he was back out on the flats two miles west of Mansfield.

I'll just bet that even with the big dark coming over the Butte, that the flex wing pilots had a real good time today. I sure hope that the Butte struts its best stuff.

---

This just in:

While the Butte continued to pump a bit after the first three pilots got up, after about 45 minutes it completely closed down for 2 and ½ hours. Many pilots went to the soccer field, and then back up again for reflights. Getting off early today was the ticket.

Dave Little got 26 miles going east after making the Butte. Tryg Hoff, after doing an out and return to Sims Corner went out with Dave and got 23 bonus miles. Larry Jorgensen didn't make it all the way back from his attempt at the biggest triangle today.  

Scored for the day:

1          Davis Straub             ATOS              1836
2         David Little               Exxtacy           1248
3         Tryg Hoff                ATOS               1059
4         Larry Jorgensen        Ghostbuster     1047
5         Peter Gray                Laminar ST       816

Cumulative:

1          Davis Straub             ATOS              1898
2         Larry Jorgensen           Ghostbuster   1884
3         David Little               Exxtacy         1706
4         Tryg Hoff               ATOS              1323
5         Peter Gray                Laminar ST       1312

I'll be putting up the full results soon on my web site. I'll put a pointer to the location here in the Oz Report. At the moment I am running just about as fast as I can.

Chelan – Tuesday (second day of the CXCC) »

Tue, Jul 4 2000, 2:00:01 pm EDT

Chelan|Chelan Cross Country Classic|Ghostbuster|Larry Jorgensen|Paul Gallagher|sailplane

Chelan|Chelan Cross Country Classic|Ghostbuster|John "Ole" Olson|Larry Jorgensen|Paul Gallagher|sailplane

(?-i)John "Ole" Olson|Chelan|Chelan Cross Country Classic|Ghostbuster|Larry Jorgensen|Paul Gallagher|sailplane

Chelan|Chelan Cross Country Classic|Ghostbuster|John "Ole" Olson|Larry Jorgensen|Paul Gallagher|sailplane

Rain. It broke off for the most part during Monday and around 5 PM there was a bit of a blue hole to the west of the Butte. Some folks launched in the dark overcast, which had by then covered up the blue hole, and got short flights down to the junkyard at the base.

Soon thereafter, as these folks planned to go up again and fly to the airport, the rain began again. Steady, continuous, moderate. It soaked into everything.

Fortunately the rain stopped about midnight. The next morning, the Butte was socked in and it looked like another day of non-flying. Then, around noon, the sky just began to open up. Still it looked like nothing would be happening especially after all that rain.

By 1 PM I couldn't stand it any longer and we were up the hill. By the time I got to the top Dave Little in his Exxtacy had been in the air 45 minutes, and he was destined to continue hanging around the top of the Butte getting to about 5,000' for another 45 minutes. Everyone else was already on top, set up, but waiting around to see if any one would get high enough to cross the gorge.

While I set up as fast as I can, every now and then a pilot or two will take off and slowly climb above the Butte. There are plenty of soft, flat moisture laden cu's out over the flats, and every now and then a small cu over the Butte. There is plenty of moisture in the air from the rain, and the cu's are only marginal indicators of lift.

Paul Gallagher takes off in his Exxtacy and then Larry Jorgensen in his Ghostbuster. I'm finally ready and get off five minutes after Larry.

The Chelan Cross Country Classic is scored with one's best four days out of six. The first day was a write off, and this day still looks too weak to be a keeper, still it is fun to get into the air. I find a thermal right off launch, and, by golly, this Chelan air is finally getting back to normal, or at least, what I remember as normal. I'm loving climbing out fast as the Butte.

Still could base is low. The lone cu at the Butte has a base at about 5,400'. I'm watching Larry Jorgensen and David Little climb I=on the rim to the southeast under clouds. It is all blue to the east toward Mansfield. I bail as the lift stops at 5,600' and run to get under Dave. Larry is already high and at cloud base.

Man, the lift is most pleasant and I'm remembering all the great times I've had here. I find the good core and Dave comes over to join me. Unfortunately I only get back up to 4,600' MSL before the thing falls apart.

While Dave continues to hang at the rim, I move inland to get under the big black congested cu's past the power lines. Unfortunately,.it is also pretty dark over there. I'm able to hang on for another half hour in light lift, but go down near LaMoine. I look track of Dave low near the rim. I last saw Paul low on the rim in his Exxtacy.

It seems like a number of pilots make it out onto the flats, so people should have some good flights today. I'll just have to play catch up tomorrow.

It is so quite where I land, that after a while I can hear the sailplanes about a mile away from me. One I can see, and the other I hear first and turn to find. There's a flex wing turning under the first sailplane, but I can only hear him talking, not flying.

It sure is great to be experiencing that good old Chelan air.

Avron on ATOS

Mon, Jul 3 2000, 3:00:05 pm EDT

David Glover|Ghostbuster

Avron Tal, «avtal», the Flight Design dealer in Israel, writes up a wonderful report on his flight on the ATOS and how it compares to the Ghostbuster. It's in the latest hang gliding mailing list at http://www.egroups.com/polls/HangGlide. Digest number 32. I think you have to subscribe to be able to read it on the web site, but maybe not. I would just reprint it here, but it is such a long report, that I would first like to see if Avron wants me to do that.

Staff photographer: David Glover

Ghostbuster, but not in name »

Fri, Jun 30 2000, 8:00:07 pm EDT

Ghostbuster|Scott Johnson

Scott Johnson, «usairborne», writes:

Just a quick note to U.S. & west coast Pilots that U. S. Airborne will be displaying the new space ship, the Eclipse- rigid-wing (19 to 1 glide) wing by (Solar wings) Pegasus. This is the 1st unit into the U. S. so come see it.

I will also have a batch of the new mini-plane paramotors. As well as the New Airborne 2000 trike/aero tug. Come see us at UL booth #20 if you're at the air show.

Just a few questions

Thu, Jun 29 2000, 8:00:02 pm EDT

Ghostbuster|Ken Brown

I very much appreciate Matthias' and Bob's comments and thoughts here. There seems to be a few issues. While Ken Brown stated that the pilot hit the wing/leading edge (as quoted in the last Oz Report), Matthias doesn't indicate this, and Bob says it ain't the case. Well?

Personally, I can't remember a case where a pilot, in the air, went sideways through a downtube, hit a leading edge, and broke the leading edge. Has this ever happened? As I recall, the Ghostbuster downtubes are of the safe-edge variety, like the ATOS and Exxtacy. These downtubes are deliberately weaker so that they break before your arm does if you smack it in. So maybe it is quite possible to go through them sideways in the air.

But still, go through a downtube and then hit the leading edge hard enough to break it? Doesn't sound right to me.

Now, pure speculation. What's up with the reports of the Ghostbuster coming apart into a thousand pieces? If true, it would be very interesting to know when this happened. For example, let's speculate that there were severe torsional loads on the leading edges (or one leading edge) and it just disintegrated. That would be interesting (but may have nothing to do with this accident). It would be great if an inspection of the wreckage were able to discount this possibility.

Also, if the leading edge broke up without the pilot hitting the wing, what would have caused this? What were the stresses?

Flight Design's perspective

Thu, Jun 29 2000, 8:00:01 pm EDT

American Paragliding|Ghostbuster|Matthias Betsch|PG

Matthias Betsch, «christl.steckroth», from Flight Design, the maker of the Ghostbuster and the Exxtacy, writes to North American Paragliding (and republished from the rigid wing mailing list):

This past weekend there was an incident with a pilot having a tuck, which resulted in a reserve deployment. The pilot was flying lee side thermals at Slide Mountain in Nevada, USA. Conditions were moderate turbulence with 10-12 mph over the back and the pilot was just reaching the shear layer. The pilot was in a right hand bank, averaging 400fpm, and, as he entered the chop, his vario was reading about 750fpm.

As the pilot hit the chop, the glider rolled left and pitched down over one side and the pilot fell through and broke a down tube in addition to tearing it out of the apex fitting. The left D-Spar then broke in two places. The pilot deployed his reserve and landed safely.

The two questions on everyone's mind are:

Why did the D-Spar break? At this stage, we assume the D-spar broke because the pilot and/or parts of the A-frame impacted a loaded D-Spar after the tuck. In general, the D-Spars of the GhostBuster are tested to higher loads than the D-Spars of all the Exxtacy's which were made through mid 1998. In mid 1998, the Exxtacy Spars have been modified for tandem use (tandem use not certified yet) and are now tested to 10% more load than the GhostBuster Spars and all D-spars are continuously tested during production. If any glider tucks and/or tumbles and has a pilot break through the control frame into the glider, it is really only a matter of having good luck if the glider does NOT break.

Why did the glider tuck? This is the question we are concentrating on right now. The pilot did mention after the incident that three times over the last three months he felt his glider have a tendency to nose down in certain types of turbulence. The pilot reports that, "The glider felt perfect in every flight envelope except for that over the falls type of turbulence, and I never had a feeling that anything was wrong except for these instances."

The pilot has not made any modification other than re-adjusting sail tension. All serial gliders have a higher twist value than during the DHV tests and we have never seen any tendency like this in any serial glider. We have had a similar feeling in two modified gliders (sail, sail cut and hardware) and currently are trying to trim this feeling into a serial glider so we can study it. We soon hope to have some results from test flights on this trimmed serial glider and from our time we have booked on the DHV test rig next week. If any of the GB pilot's could report a similar behavior or anything else which feels strange. Please contact Flight Design at «info» or North American Flight Design at «napi».

Summary: Accidents and incidents are difficult for any manufacturer, the pilot involved, and all pilots flying similar gliders. We at Flight Design take them very seriously and always use them as a chance to expand our knowledge and broaden the safety limits of our products. When we receive a report of any incident, we follow it up internally and test with serious professionals, to find out all we can. It goes without saying that any information we find that could enhance safety will be made available to all our customers.

Kevin's Ghostbuster

Wed, Jun 28 2000, 8:00:05 pm EDT

Ghostbuster|Ken Brown

Ken Brown, «FlyaMoyes», writes:

We (myself and Flight Design) are in the process of investigating the incident. At this time we are seeing that it was a turbulence-induced tumble with the pilot striking the wing and resultant structural failure. Kevin's only injury is a large bruise on his leg from where he swung through the left upright and struck the d-cell. He is ready to go flying again on his Exxtacy. Thank you for your eager reporting.

ATOS and Ghostbuster still flying

Tue, Jun 27 2000, 8:00:03 pm EDT

Dave Sharp|Ghostbuster

Dave Sharp wrote to point out that he has been putting his ATOS through quite a bit of big and bad air in Sandia, and it remains in one piece. I notice that Heiner Bissel's ATOS is also still flying as is Pat Sheedy's (formerly Mark P.'s) Ghostbuster. It's really big and bad out there, so it is great to hear from these guys.

Chelan – same old, same old »

Tue, Jun 27 2000, 8:00:00 pm EDT

Belinda Boulter|Chelan|Eric Troili|Ghostbuster|sailplane|weather|Worlds

Belinda Boulter|Chelan|Eric Troili|Ghostbuster|John "Ole" Olson|sailplane|weather|Worlds

(?-i)John "Ole" Olson|Belinda Boulter|Chelan|Eric Troili|Ghostbuster|sailplane|weather|Worlds

Belinda Boulter|Chelan|Eric Troili|Ghostbuster|John "Ole" Olson|sailplane|weather|Worlds

Ok, take the headline here as a bit of a joke. Apparently the locals here in Washington State can't take a joke (or a straight story about their precious sites), so I need to point things out to them (see below).

After the northeast winds that flushed all the pilots that tried yesterday, the winds lightened up to no winds at all today at Chelan Butte. Belinda and I took Scot Berry, an Arizona pilot, up to the top. Scot was the flex wing pilot who took over after Rick Edris (ATOS) yesterday and got flushed bad behind the rotor off the Butte's east running ridge.

I mention this issue of the northeast winds because it was easy to spot if I had just paid attention to the windcast. I have very limited Internet access here in Chelan, so I don't have the mental space to go over the forecasts thoroughly enough. The windcast displayed the problem, while every other forecast blew it.

Today, with no winds at the Butte, we found ourselves with some cu's building in the Cascade Mountains to the west and far to the north in lower ridges. Soon (around 12:30 PM) there would be small cu's forming over the rim on the east side. (BTW, Eric Troili wrote me to say that he had a good flight from the Butte on Sunday going at least 60 miles to the south to I90 by Ephrata.)

I was the only local pilot up on the Butte, although I'm sure the locals don't consider me a local anymore. I had to set the tone by taking off first in the gentle zephyrs coming up the east-facing Ants-in-the-Pants launch. There was even light puffs coming up the lakeside, so you know there were no winds.

Just to be clear here, I've been flying Chelan Butte since I was a hang I in 1985. I do know what I'm talking about when it comes to flying cross-country here (and in western Washington), and I have a bit broader perspective then those who are attached to this area.

The Women's Worlds will be coming to Chelan (pre-Worlds next year) as well as the Class II Worlds (at the same time). In the Oz Report, I have provided a lot of opinion from various pilots about the Spanish site for the Worlds (the pre-Worlds should be going on there now). I'm sure that those officials who favored that site were not happy to hear what these pilots had to say.

I'm not going to shy away from giving an objective report about Chelan Butte, just because I happen to have learned how to fly cross country here (actually I struggled with XC here at first, and then really took off when I went to a good site like Pine Mountain near Bend, Oregon). I won the Chelan Cross Country Classic here last year, and I hope to be able to defend my title this year.

Chelan got a great international reputation a few years back when Dan and Larry put on a very successful (weather-wise) women's worlds. They had a meet that had the first 100-mile task in a women's worlds.

This was a bit of a fluke. The weather could easily have sucked for the whole week. It could have been as bad as it was for a later US National meet. It could have been as bad as it has been (at least for the flex wings) for the last few years during the Chelan Cross Country Classic. I find it hard to believe that flex wing pilots keep coming back to this meet, after what has happened to them over the last few years.

Relative to the top sites in the world for cross-country Chelan sucks. Relative to all the sites in the world where people fly cross-country because they live there, it is OK or as they say in Lake Wobegone, it is above average.

From what I've heard from Carol's reports about Greece, Chelan is in the ball park. It probably is better than the site of the current Worlds in Spain. The sad part is that these sites are chosen for reasons other than providing the pilots with their best cross country or racing experience.

Chelan has huge disadvantages – it is a blue hole (ask any local sailplane pilot), it is surrounded by water, you are required to go fly over a 2,500' gorge for 3 to 5 miles. The lift at the Butte can be quite a bit more turbulent than that found on the flats. If you get low at the Butte, you are really hurting to find a place to get back up. With west winds, you are often as not screwed by the southwest flow up the river. I could go on and on about its problems (or are these challenges).

Anyway, there was lift right off launch. It was nice lift, which I was happy about, but then I found a devil a bit to the north by the towers. Geez, when am I going to get use to this Chelan turbulence? I remember in the olden days that I thought that this was just great. I wonder how I've been warped.

I decide that I don't like this particular version of hell, so I leave at 5,200' and head for the point between McNeel and Farnham Canyons due to the east. I figure both I will get up from low or land, and given how uninviting the start was, either is fine. Of course, lots of other pilots would have stayed in the strong lift at the Butte and topped it out at 7,000' or so before heading across.

I start playing a little game with myself. I'm super confident in the ATOS in terms of my/its ability to find some lift and stay up in anything. Given this confidence, I don't worry about heading up into McNeel Canyon at 3,200' MSL, maybe 200' over the top of the canyon lip. The game is low and fast.

I find just a bit of lift, the kind of stuff that I would have had a hard time staying up in in a flex wing glider. I start milking it and climb out to 4,500', just enough to head further east up the south rim of McNeel, searching for whatever lift is creating that fine looking cumulus cloud ahead of me.

Again I have to work up from just above the rim in light ratty stuff, but this is just what I want. The game is to see how low I can get and still get out. I'm able to drift over toward Jensen's farm and climb to 7,000'.

Unlike on Saturday, the thermals are relatively smooth. It is now the air in between the thermals that provides for those sickening uncertainties as I get tossed up and down and left and right. I wish I could quit thinking about the recent troubles with Ghostbuster disintegrations and ATOS spins.

Even with the thermals providing the relief, I stick to my plan. Low and fast to Mansfield, Withrow and back to the junkyard. A small triangle, but just enough air time to help me get use to the site again. This first climb to 7,000' is a bit high, but well below the 9 to 10,000' cloud base.

With no winds, I'm still making 45 mph over the ground. I hope to get low, but I keep hitting lift. I don't turn in it, as that would be unfair. It really is the ATOS that is making me think this way. It seems so unfair compared to my many years of experience flying flex wings here. I just have to come up with a task that is at least a little bit challenging. What is the point of getting high and just flying the triangle?

I finally do get down below 4,000' MSL (1,500' AGL), so that I can feel more of that ground connection as I round the corner at Mansfield. I need to finally stop and shop 5 miles to the southwest at 600'. It is cool just searching around.

This can be a bad strategy as I showed the other day when I only flew 101 miles. There are large areas of quite strong sink (over 800 fpm on the averager), before one finally hits a little patch of ratty lift. Still I figure, what's the worse that can happen. Oh, I land. The tragedy is just too much.

I climb out to 5,200' MSL five miles from Withrow and head for the dark cloud at the corner of the town. I decide that I will take the lift that I expect there to only just enough to make it back to the junk yard (12 miles from there). I circle to 7,000', but by the time I leave the lift I'm at 7,500'.

I stuff the bar and scoot through plentiful lift to the rim at 3,200' MSL. Plenty of height to make it back to the junkyard lz on the north side of the Butte.

I must say that I there was still plenty of unpleasant turbulence between thermals on this flight. I sure that I can up my bump tolerance by the end of the week (there are supposed to be some storms this weekend). The thermals were a blessing: strong, fully packed, and much smoother than my previous flight.

I have written this in an exaggerated cocky style to emphasize the fact that I was indeed looking for a way to up the difficulty factor of this little task. Things have really changed, and it is so easy to get great flights with an ATOS, that all my previous experience on a flex wing at Chelan (and I'm talking years of experience here) has been complete superceded. I just have to have a different perspective now.

Oz Report on rigids

Thu, Jun 22 2000, 4:00:04 am EDT

Ghostbuster|record

The Oz Report is the most comprehensive report on rigid wing issues available. Nothing else comes even close. I've reported every "incident" that we are aware of and discussed almost every possible issue with respect to rigid wing gliders. I like to think that I've been fair, publishing the bad with the good for the Exxtacy, ixbo, E-7, Raptor, ESC, Ghostbuster and ATOS.

Looking over the record, I feel that a few observations are in order. First, I only recall one Exxtacy breaking up in flight. That was the result of an "aerobatic" pilot attempting some loops and then trying for some spins. Overall it appears as though it is very difficult to break the Exxtacy – obviously a very useful feature and selling point for the glider.

Also, it appears to be very difficult to spin the glider, with only a few (wicked) spins brought about by deliberate attempts on the pilots' part. No tucks, no tumbles, no real problems. The Exxtacy seems to be a tank of a rigid wing glider with excellent handling (in terms of safety) characteristics.

The Ghostbuster doesn't have this enviable record. With quite a few less Ghostbusters flying, we now appear to have two that have disintegrated in flight. I've experienced unintended spins (perhaps from maladjusted gliders) in the Ghostbuster, and it appears that one can spin it at least a bit easier than the Exxtacy. We are not clear why the Ghostbuster would break up in flight and why the Exxtacy doesn’t seem to do this. It sure would be great to know what differences there are between these two gliders produced by the same manufacturer.

A number of pilots have reported short unintended spins with the ATOS. Flying it, it feels to me like one could spin or spiral dive it. A strong push out in a high-banked turn just might do it. I haven't heard of any ATOSes tucking or tumbling, although I am currently tracking down some vague rumors. I haven't heard of any ATOSes breaking up in flight.

There are a lot more ATOSes out there flying than Ghostbusters, but not as many as Exxtacies. There are many more in Europe, and I don't have as good a pipeline to Europe as I do to pilots here in the US. As an ATOS pilot, I'm sure hoping that the ATOS is as strong as the Exxtacy (which Felix claims that it is). You would think with that many pilots flying them, I would have heard something by now if there was an obvious problem.

If we had the kind of record with the Exxtacy, that we now appear to have with the Ghostbuster, I'm sure that we as customers would be a lot more concerned about what the next design step in rigid wing development was. Let's all hope that these problems are taken care of quickly and that we can all (ATOS pilots also) feel as confident about our wings as we did about flying the Exxtacy.

Ghostbuster⁣ disintegrates in flight »

Thu, Jun 22 2000, 4:00:03 am EDT

Donn Denman|Ghostbuster|Ken Brown|PG|weather

Donn Denman, «Donn», writes:

I have no first hand knowledge of this incident, I'm just repeating my recollection of what witnesses told me. Please help contact Flight Designs (Ken Brown, local dealer, etc.) so a proper investigation of this incident can proceed.

(editor's note: I earlier sent this report to Mike Eberle and Ken Brown for their input. I will publish whatever they write when I hear back from them.)

Slide Mtn had some good thermal weather today, and I had a nice flight until the Westerlies kicked in. It was turbulent and sinky East of the mountain, and I landed.

One of the other pilots in the LZ told me there had been an accident. Bay Area pilot Kevin Dutt had his GhostBuster fail while flying, and had deployed his 'chute, and landed safely.

Later two paraglider pilots showed up at the LZ and gave me more information. One pilot witnessed the accident. He saw Kevin enter a turn, get tossed by turbulence, and then the glider broke up into many pieces. He threw his 'chute, came down between to tall pine trees, and reached the ground virtually unscratched. Pieces of the glider continued to fall out of the sky for several minutes after the accident.

The other paraglider pilot heard the noise, which sounded to him like a car crash, and turned to see Kevin and the pieces of glider falling. He and everyone else went rushing up the hill to where Kevin landed to see Kevin standing amid the debris, dazed but otherwise fine. Kevin said he'd had to pull several times hard to get his 'chute out of its pocket (scary in itself). I asked how many pieces the glider broke into. The witness guessed one thousand.

Discuss "Ghostbuster⁣ disintegrates in flight" at the Oz Report forum   link»