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topic: Jim Lamb

101 articles, page:  1 

Momma and Baby

July 14, 2021, 8:37:41 MDT

Sandhill cranes

Jim Lamb

Jim Lamb sends:

They are very protective of their offspring.

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Eagle Blinks

June 4, 2020, 7:11:05 pm MDT

Eagle Blinks

A weird way to do it

Jim Lamb|video

Thanks to Jim Lamb.

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Supporting the Oz Report »

March 19, 2020, 9:08:59 EDT

Supporting the Oz Report

Keeping our distance

Jim Lamb|Ken Howells|Oz Report

Thanks to our old friend Jim Lamb for his generous support. Thanks also to Ken Howells.

This is the month where I ask Oz Report readers for their support.  Your contribution pays for hosting our web site and for Gerry's technical support to keep it running.

Here are our supporters: http://ozreport.com/supporters.php

As you know, all we are asking for is a subscription payment of $20/year.

Seems simple enough.  Like most content on the internet, you get to read the Oz Report for free.  The trouble for us, not you, is that there are not enough hang glider pilots in this world to make advertising pay for our web hosting costs.

Please, help us out.  Support something that you find useful so that it can continue to be there for you.

Options:

1) Click paypal.me/davisstraub.

You should see this:

Type in the amount that you want to send in for your subscription.

Click "Next"

You should see something like this:

If you can contribute from your PayPal Balance or from your bank account that is connected to your PayPal account, please do as this incurs no PayPal fee.

2) If instead you are using a credit card to make this contribution, click this button:

3) Another way to do this is, click here: https://www.paypal.com

With this option please click the "Send&Request" tab.

Type in my email address which you can discern from "davis" and I'm at "davisstraub.com".  (I have to write it this way as we hide email addresses here at the Oz Report.

Click "Next."

You'll see:


If you consider me a friend then click the "Sending to a friend" button.

Enter the amount here:

If you’d rather just send a check for $20 or more (US Dollars only, please), please feel free to do so.

Payable to:

Davis Straub (Not to the Oz Report)
6548 Groveland Airport Road
Groveland, FL 34736

If you send a physical check, be sure to send me your email address so that I can register you as a subscriber.

These are our supporters (if you are not on the list and have donated to the Oz Report, email me and I'll make sure that you are recognized): http://ozreport.com/supporters.php.  Some of you who I've missed in the past did write to me and made sure I knew just how important the Oz Report was to them.  If I've missed you, please do tell me.

4) This last option.  Come over to the Oz Report support web page and sign up to support us: http://ozreport.com/support.php.  Or click here:

Thanks to all our supporters: http://ozreport.com/supporters.php who have kept us going and paying our bills over the last twenty four years.

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X Flight »

July 8, 2019, 11:22:54 MDT

X Flight

Wet

Facebook|Jim Lamb|Larry Bunner|Mike Degtoff|record|weather

Larry Bunner writes:

On Sunday we flew out of Casper, WY. Initially we were going to launch from the Harford County Airport just north of town. I was able to contact Kevin Christopherson to get a read on the weather conditions for the day and he mentioned that he had a runway on his property and invited us to fly from there.

I met Kevin over 30 years ago when my buddies from Wisconsin (Matt Thoreson, Dale Maas) and Iowa (Jim Lamb, Gary Newt) flew at Kevin's primary mountain site, Whiskey Peak from which he set the previous world distance record in 1989. It was good to see Kevin again at his beautiful place nestled in the foothills of the mountains. He and his family greeted and treated us very warmly.

We launched around 1:00pm and early on we climbed up over 15000' in WSW winds upward of 20mph. I had one climb in ridiculously smooth air at over 1000fpm but alas only one. The top of the lift slowly descended to 13000' further to the east as the converging air masses from the west and east collided. We were able to climb up the side of the clouds at one point which offered a unique perspective. Three of us managed to fly to Wright, CO before a persistent thunderstorm off to the north migrated across our flight path and shut us down.

Photo by Mike Degtoff.

Again, eastern Wyoming is very wet, many small lakes dot the landscape as the rainfall there has been abnormally high. After flying for almost two weeks in good conditions, we hoped the rest of the trip would be more of the same. It just hasn't been the case.

On our original predicted flight path the ground moisture levels are very high which reduces the surface heating and resultant altitudes we can thermal up to. In addition the atmosphere is quite explosive throughout the upper west and thunderstorms have been around us each day. We study the forecast models to pick the best location to fly and Monday may take us in a different location to find the southerly winds and the high top of lift that we need to continue north.

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The Oz Report March Fund Raiser - 8 cents an issue »

Wed, Mar 28 2018, 7:52:45 am EDT

The Oz Report March Fund Raiser

That's what it costs to get the Oz Report, if you actually pay for it.

Davis Straub|Jim Lamb|Larry Bunner|Oz Report|Zac Majors

This is the month where I ask Oz Report readers for their support. Your contribution pays for hosting our web site and for Scare's technical support to keep it running.

Thanks for all the support that you have sent in. I wanted to especially thank those who have been extra generous, including: Jim Lamb and Geoffrey Robertson.

You know, all we are asking for is a subscription payment of $20/year, that is equal to 8 cents a copy of the Oz Report. Now surely while not every copy of the Oz Report is worth 8 cents, many are worth more than that to you. At least we hope so.

Seems simple enough. Like most content on the internet, you get to read the Oz Report for free. The trouble for us, not you, is that there are not enough hang glider pilots in this world to make advertising pay for our web hosting costs.

Please, help us out. Support something that you find useful so that it can continue to be there for you.

Zac Majors and Larry Bunner (with hair):

Options:

1) If you have money in your PayPal account and you are in the US click here: paypal.me/davisstraub and send money as a friend

2) With a credit card click this button:


3) Click here: https://www.paypal.com

With this option please click the "Send&Request" tab to send the money and eliminate credit card fees by clicking "Send to friends and family in the US," if your PayPal account is connected to your bank account, you are in the US, you have money in your PayPal account, and not just to a credit card:

The email address would be davis and I'm at davisstraub.com

If you’d rather just send a check for $20 or more (US Dollars only, please), please feel free to do so.

Payable to:

Davis Straub (Not to the Oz Report)
6548 Groveland Airport Road
Groveland, FL 34736

If you send a physical check, be sure to send me your email address so that I can register you as a subscriber.

These are our supporters (if you are not on the list and have donated to the Oz Report, email me and I'll make sure that you are recognized): https://OzReport.com/supporters.php. Some of you who I've missed in the past did write to me and made sure I knew just how important the Oz Report was to them. If I've missed you, please do tell me.

4) Come over to the Oz Report support web page and sign up to support us: https://OzReport.com/support.php. Or click here:

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Garmin Aviator Watch

Wed, Dec 18 2013, 2:27:25 pm EST

Garmin Aviator Watch

More for GA pilots

Jim Lamb

http://www.mypilotstore.com/MyPilotStore/sep/9594?qryrmv=1&ppcs=bing&ppcg=4-95

Direct-to and nearest navigation functions, as well as a built-in altimeter with adjustable baro setting, altitude alerting capabilities, display of both local and Zulu/UTC time, and the ability to integrate with the Garmin Pilot app and VIRB action camera. Includes a high-sensitivity WAAS GPS receiver, altimeter with adjustable baro setting, and 3-axis compass. Its domed lens makes the screen easy to read even in direct sunlight. User-defined waypoints. Access your current GPS ground speed, GPS track, distance from waypoints/airports, estimated time enroute, bearing, and glide ratio.

Thanks to Jim Lamb

Garmin Pilot App here.

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Little sailplanes at Seminole

March 29, 2013, 9:42:28 EDT

Little sailplanes at Seminole

Jim Lamb and Steve Arndt

Jim Lamb|Quest Air|sailplane

There is a small competition of small sailplanes going on this week just six miles south of us at the Seminole Lake Glider Port. All five competitors were overhead a couple of days ago. 

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31612

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Jim Lamb retires at AIR-USA

December 11, 2012, 9:56:40 PST

Jim Lamb retires at AIR-USA

ATOS distributor for the US

Dennis Pagen|James Lamb|Jim Lamb|sailplane

James Lamb <<jlamb>> writes:

For the last twelve years, AIR-USA has provided a state-side inventory of parts, gliders and delivery slots, and service for ATOS rigid-wing hang gliders. This has been an affair of the heart for me as I have loved this sport and the people in it. I think we’ve done a good job along the way and certainly had a lot of fun doing it. Felix Ruhle has been a wonderful friend and continues to create and inspire us all with his great aircraft. We are fortunate to have him.

The time has come to ‘hang it up’. At 66, I’m spending most of my flying time in my sailplane and my spare time on the golf course and keeping track of my grandkids. Besides, I promised myself a long time ago that I would ‘retire’ from hang gliding before Dennis Pagen! I wish my good friends at AIR continued success along with the many friends around the world I’ve been privileged to fly with.

After January 1, please e-mail Andreas Nagel direct at AIR for parts needs. <Andreas>

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The seniors down the road

March 20, 2012, 8:59:58 EDT

The seniors down the road

Jim Lamb and Jim Lee were in the competition

Jim Lamb|Jim Lee|Lauren Tjaden|Quest Air|video

Lauren Tjaden sends:

A Plethora of Planes! Video of Soaring Championships in Clermont: http://bit.ly/FOqJYT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4I_QJodVto#!

http://soarfl.com/seniorsnational.htm

The competition was last week right down the road from Quest Air.

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Tin Cup - The Oz Report Classified ads

March 11, 2011, 6:50:10 pm EST

Tin Cup

Scare and I ask for your help with this enterprise

Davis Straub|donations|Jim Lamb|Quest Air

The free Oz Report classified ads are a great place to buy and sell hang gliding equipment. I have received many thank you's over the years from pilots who have sold their hang gliders, parachutes, and harnesses there.

The classified ads area is for the most part a maintenance free area for us, but all too often we do get pilots who seem to forget that the activation email that we send them tells them how to delete their ad. They ask us to do it for them, after they have sold their item. Sometimes people have trouble placing an ad, often because they have an IP address from an region of the internet address space that is known to be a "bad" area.

Scare and I work hard to make sure everyone has a chance to use the free classified ads. But sometimes it appears as though pilots don't appreciate that this is a free service that we pay for and provide to anyone, not just our readers and supporters. We very rarely (although sometimes we do) hear from people who have sold things on the classifieds ads, sending us a little appreciation in the form of a donation. Sometimes they can get pretty demanding of our free service expecting it to be always on and always trouble free.

Now, of course, having this free service is just part of our scheme to have you send in a donation by providing so many free services that you feel morally obligated to support us with a small donation. But it would be nice to hear from those who have by served directly by us through the free classified ads with a bit more than a once a year small donation, if that.

BTW, a big thanks to Jim Lamb, and A-I-I US LLC, for his generous support of the Oz Report, and a big thank you also to those who have seen it in their hearts to provide a little more (and sometimes a lot more) than the minimum subscription amount. The Oz Report does not make money. It consistently (although not completely consistently) loses money, which I duly inform the IRS about. But, it provides a service (or services) that I hope that you find useful and worthy of your support.

Please, help us out. Support something that you find useful so that it can continue to be there for you.

You can send $20 or more for a yearly subscription/donation. To pay for your subscription with your credit card or PayPal account:

If you’d rather just send a check for $20 (US Dollars, only please) or more, please feel free to do so. The mail gets forwarded to me wherever I’m at.

Payable to:

Davis Straub (Not to the Oz Report)
PMB 1889 PO Box 2430
Pensacola, FL 32513

These are our supporters (if you are not on the list and have donated to the Oz Report, email me and I'll make sure that you are recognized): http://ozreport.com/supporters.php. Some of you who I've missed in the past did write to me and made sure I knew just how important the Oz Report was to them. If I've missed you, please do tell me.

Come over to the Oz Report support web page and sign up to support us: http://ozreport.com/support.php. Or click here:

2009 Team Challenge

October 6, 2009, 8:13:30 PDT

2009 Team Challenge

The last three days

Davis Straub|Dennis Pagen|Foundation for Free Flight|Jim Lamb|Lookout Mountain Flight Park|Malcolm Jones|Mark Stump|Mike Barber|photo|Steve Kroop|Tennessee Tree Toppers|Tennessee Tree Toppers Team Challenge 2009|Tom Lanning|video|weather

Brandon DeKock <<bkdekock>> sends:

http://hickarus.blogspot.com

Here’s the report from Thursday at the Tennessee Tree Toppers Team Challenge. I want to cover something very important before I get into the day’s flying activities. An important announcement was made by the Foundation for Free Flight, represented by Randy Leggett. The FFF will be giving out five scholarships for pilots to next year’s TTT Team Challenge. The TreeToppers will be choosing the recipients for the scholarships.

The TTT believes that competitions of this type are a great benefit to the sport and think there should be more of them around the country. Thus, scholarship selection will be based mostly on the applicant’s plan and ability to encourage fun educational events similar to the Team Challenge in their local area. Documents describing how the TTT Team Challenge meet is run are available on the tree toppers web site (www.treetoppers.org).

Onto the flying: There was SE flow very early gong SW (parallel to valley) by noon so we headed to the Whitwell launch. The winds were light at launch and Dennis Pagen put on a short “how to launch here today” clinic for those who felt an ounce of prevention and knowledge is worth 45 pounds of bent aluminum.

The launch window opened at 12:45 and a few folks went but there was a mass exodus starting around 1:30 because it looked like there was potential for it to cross up or blow down and become unlaunchable. The lift at the ridge was weak and coming up in small, short-lived bubbles. At times there was a bit of a disorganized bar fight on the ridge, and it was only mitigated by the fact that most folks couldn’t stay up very long. Most pilots who couldn’t find anything to travel with chose to land in the Church LZ, the primary for the site. I didn’t count just how many topless gliders landed at the church, but it looked like more landed there than got up and landed further along the course.

Of course, a few pilots got up and away. No C pilots made the C goal (Galloway airport, about 11 miles downwind). One B pilot, Bryon Estes, made the B goal (Whitwell to Galloway for 11 miles, then another 4 miles downwind and across the valley to Henson's Gap LZ). Only one A pilot, Tom Lanning of Team Aerosnauts, made the A goal (Whitwell to Galloway to Henson’s, then back upwind to Galloway). Just to make the rest of us feel better, Tom admitted it was challenging most of the way. To make us feel worse he let us know it was hard to get down at Galloway at the end of the course.

The evening activities included giving out some of the awesome stuff generously donated by our sponsors (in no particular order), Steve Kroop of FLYTEC, Kriag Coomber of Moyes USA, Maui Jim Sunglasses, Davis Straub of the Oz Report, Jim Lamb of AIR ATOS, Red Bull, Rusty of Gunnison Gliders, SPOT GPS, ICARO, Matt Taber of Lookout Mountain Flight Park, Malcolm Jones of Wallaby Ranch, and Greenlife Grocery.

I’ve also included some photos from the day’s flying. There’s two depicting the barfight on the ridge to get up, one of Matt Dittman getting ready to hang check, one of Erin Rapacki holding her glider’s nose, and one of Leigh Sheridan showing off her hang glider necklace while stuffing battens. Thanks, Brandon DeKock

Friday we had rain and lots and lots of seminars! The weather forecasting seminar made many fall asleep and a few cry. We also had cross country landing fields and how to pick 'em, launch technique and then video launch clinic. We snuck in a few landing videos as well to stimulate discussion of landing techniques. Earlier in the week pilots enjoyed the hands on exercises of gps/flight computer geo cache racing (which was won going away by the comp pilots with Flytec 6030s and a thermal etiquette exercise that was pretty kooky, but effective for pilots who don't have a lot of gaggle time.

Saturday we had a bit too much wind to call tasks for the C's so we gave 'em more seminars. We wrapped it up with a round table question and answer seminar that I thought was very valuable. We simply asked the pilots what they wanted to hear about, then created a list on the dry erase board! The panel of experts knocked 'em off one by one! This gave us time to fill in the gaps left in some of the lectures and get a feel for what we'll need next year.

Whew! It was a lot of fun and intense learning. I'm sure it was the most comprehensive week of hang gliding education on the planet in 2009! We celebrated everyone's great success with a fine meal and party with a DJ, karaoke and a Tara Murphy to entertain us. The awards ceremony was a lot of fun and every pilot attending received gifts and prizes donated by our sponsors.

Unfortunately the weather was below par for TC this year, leaving us with only three days with called tasks, but we held so many excellent seminars, video launch clinics and soaring exercises that the time flew past! Pilots flew on 5 of the 7 days. I continue to learn new information at every Team Challenge. I've been a student of hang gliding for a long time and nothing comes close to this educational experience. Our C and B pilots were awed by this incredible opportunity to learn from the best teachers in hang gliding! I heard some pilots talking about the feeling of Team Challenge, "Its like a fun sports camp for grownup kids." Many thanks to Dennis Pagen, Mike Barber, Tom Lanning, Mark Stump and all the others for helping us understand our sport better!

We had another great year! We are working right now to make it even better next year!

Erin Rapacki

Leigh Sheridan

Matt Dittman

bar fight

2009 Team Challenge

Day One

2009 Team Challenge

September 27, 2009, 9:25:49 pm MST

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Bill Watters|Dave Hopkins|Dennis Pagen|Jim Lamb|Mark Stump|Mike Barber|Oliver Gregory|Tennessee Tree Toppers|Tennessee Tree Toppers Team Challenge 2009|Tom Lanning|video

oliver gregory <<olliettt1955>> writes:

The morning was beautiful with the valley filled with clouds. The view from the ramp is always so beautiful here.

The forecast was for ridge soaring conditions and good lift to cloud base at 5000' msl. We were concerned that it might be rough. By the time the launch window opened, we had nice west northwest winds and a sky streeted with cumulus clouds.

Since this was our first day, the task committee chose a simple task to Dr Dales for C pilots, Dr Dales and back to Henson's for B's and Dr Dales, Henson's and back to Dr Dales for the A's. It was not a gimme task for any of us since the task went cross wind to the cloud streets and there was enough sink between the streets to make the ridge lift fade out. We had lots of pilots into their goals, so everyone seemed pleased.

We have 40 pilots and 8 teams from all over. More on this later. We are waiting for some of the TTTers at Santa Cruz Flats Race in AZ to join us and take advantage of Mike Barber's coaching for the rest of the week.

It was a fun day with none of the rough stuff until time to land when the wind was switchy and made for some interesting landings. After we loaded up and returned to Henson's Gap, hungry pilots enjoyed fabulous hearty soup made by Wanda DeBerger and Dick Heckman. We did our debriefing and heard a great talk from Mark Stump on how we choose to fly.

Provisional scores are: In first place Team Area 51 lead by Jim Lamb on the Atos VRQ. In second place is Kinghts in White Dacron with Dave Hopkins on an ancient Atos. In third place is Team Acrosnats, lead by Tom Lanning on his Litespeed RS. In forth is Team Ooooos lead by yours truly on my VR. In fifth Team Xplorers Xc Xceptional lead by Dennis Pagen on his Lightspeed, but one of his pilots hasn't pinned in yet, so they may jump to first place when that happens. Team Tow Heads are lead by Miller Stroud on a VQ. Team 4Fs is lead by Bill Watters, and finally, Team Tree Topplers is lead by Jeff Laughrey and Steve Larson.

Our team of Cliff Rice, Leigh Sheridan, Jerry Keller, Barry Klein and myself had radio problems so only Jerry was talking to me. Mike Barber was helping out as a free flier today and did a good job with the only Ooooo, besides me, to have a working radio. We are all ham operators! Why would our radios let us down? As my buddy Mark Stump says, "Ya got radios, ya got radio problems." Anyway all the C's with radio problems made goal. I couldn't get out of there and landed with them. It was a fun day. Our team was very happy as 2 of our pilots had their first XC today!

We start video for the launch clinic tomorrow and will have that clinic going soon. High winds are predicted, but we had much lighter winds than predicted today. We have a blogspot for our scores http://hickarus.blogspot.com

How about zero ⁢USHPA⁣ Competition Committees? »

Tue, Sep 8 2009, 8:50:50 am MDT

What has the Comp Committee done other than get in the way?

Jim Lamb|Lisa Tate|USHPA

Jim Lamb wonders when has the Competition Committee has been instrumental in securing meaningful promotional help, or helped organize a Regionals?

Jim has a point. For the most part the Competition Committee is just a gatekeeper, and pretty much operating on automatic. The USHPA Competition Rulebook hasn't been changed since 2006.

It is only when it steps outside its normal role of just approving USHPA-sanctioned GAP-scored competitions that it gets into trouble or starts trouble, as the latest brouhaha about the King Mountain co-Nationals so amply illustrates.

The USHPA Competition Committee has been pressed into this role of supposed promoter of growth for the USHPA and competition (hasn't seemed to accomplish this yet) by the USHPA leadership (well, Lisa Tate and Riss Estes), and Lisa's vision of the Strategic Plan.

My call for two USHPA Competition Committees (one just focused on NTSS-based competitions) is an attempt to keep the NTSS Competition Committee focused on its gatekeeper role (for GAP-scored meets), and let another competition committee focus on promotion and growth, if that is the desire of the USHPA leadership.

It would be perfectly fine with me if the NTSS Competition Committee was as low key as it was under my administration, just helping folks get through the USHPA sanctioning process.

The center of attention in competition is the meet organizers and the competition pilots. They are the people that make things happen. It would be nice if the USHPA BOD could help them out, but I wonder if it is capable of doing so.

The competition community is really quite separate from the USHPA BOD, officers, and headquarters. Really, we want to have as little to do with the USHPA BOD as possible. Maybe if we saw something positive coming out of the USHPA Competition Committee, we would have a different opinion.

Right now, I am in a defensive mode. The leadership is pushing for big changes in the competition system, and I am trying to get that diverted to another committee, so that the changes to the NTSS system are minimal and actually helpful to competition. I will publish my proposals soon.

Discuss "How about zero ⁢USHPA⁣ Competition Committees?" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Team Challenge slots available

September 6, 2009, 1:31:56 pm MDT

Team Challenge slots available

Fly with Dennis Pagen

Dennis Pagen|Jim Lamb|Kevin Carter|Mark Stump|Mike Barber|Ollie Gregory|Tennessee Tree Toppers|USHPA|video

Ollie Gregory <<olliettt1955>> writes:

Dennis Pagen is team leader without a team. We have 4 slots from recent cancellations, so register now and have a week with Dennis Pagen as your A+ team leader and coach! His team has won in the past, so come and learn from the number one hang gliding author on the planet. This years clinic agenda is packed with talks from Mike Barber, Dennis Pagen, Jim Lamb, Mark Stump, Kevin Carter and others. We are going to focus on very practical skills and basic XC knowledge again this year. We will have our super successful video launch and landing clinics with every launch and landing we can capture is reviewed by the experts. Dennis wants to focus on the Launch Clinic since that is an new interest for him. The video launch clinic improved my mountain launch technique 100% last year, and material from the clinic resulted in a wonderful article for the USHPA magazine.

We will have clinics every night except party nights. On night we will go to a local restaurant for hang gliding parody song night with the best parody song winning nice prizes. Don't worry, I have some local singing talent to bail us out so we won't have to listen to Dennis Pagen and Dick Heckman sing all night. At this point we have about $2000 in prizes donated to the TTT cause, so don't miss out! A million thanks to all our sponsors!

Registration is easy, just go to our website and follow the links. At this late date, the registrations will only be held for those serious about coming for this great week of hang gliding and XC skills development. We need A B and C level pilots, so bring it on! Check out TTT's website for more information and read about Team Challenge on the Oz Report. www.tennesseetreetoppers.org

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Team Challenge Registration is open

April 13, 2009, 8:29:17 EDT

Team Challenge Registration is open

The stepping stone to competition

Dennis Pagen|Jim Lamb|Kevin Carter|Lookout Mountain Flight Park|Mike Barber|Oliver Gregory|Tennessee Tree Toppers|USHPA|video

http://www.tennesseetreetoppers.org/tc_re.asp

http://www.tennesseetreetoppers.org/

Oliver Gregory «olliettt1955» writes:

The Tennessee Tree Toppers Hang Gliding Club (TTT) is pleased to inform you that registration is now officially open for Team Challenge 2009 (TC09). Everyone interested should check out our site at www.tennesseetreetoppers.org and get registered as soon as possible. We expect registration to fill up quickly. TC09 starts with onsite registration on Saturday, September 26TH. TC09 will start the day after the Lookout Mountain Flight Park's Women's Flyin which is scheduled for September 24th through September 26th. TC09 begins Sunday, September 27TH and ends with a great party Saturday October 3RD. Hopefully many of the Women's Flyin participants will join us for TC09. TC09 will be held at the TTT's Henson's Gap site and campground that is only 32.5 air miles to the north of LMFP.

For our TC09, TTT will keep the emphasis on safety and quality hang gliding education with a multi media teaching format, nightly seminars by the experts and video launch and landing clinics. We'll have great food and great camping at our Henson's Gap site. Of course we'll have a fun party and awards ceremony to wrap it up. The exceptionally effective video launch and landing clinics are going to continue again this year so bring your video cameras to help out. We have several former world team members including Mike Barber, Kevin Carter, Dennis Pagen, Jim Lamb and Terry Presley presenting and coaching at our seminars and clinics.

We have two classes this year. Of course we'll continue with our super successful Team Challenge format that is designed to help up and coming XC pilots advance their skills.

The TTT require membership in USHPA or foreign equivalent, full membership in the TTT, and a minimum hang 3 rating with solid foot launch, cliff launch, thermal soaring and landing skills to participate in the TC09. Each team of five will be lead by one or two "A" pilot mentors who will encourage and hopefully escort their less experienced team mates to goal. We handicap scores based on pilot experience and wing performance. "A" pilots are very experienced XC pilots capable of lending wisdom and guidance to their peers. "B" pilots have a little XC flying experience, but will gain additional confidence and expertise with help from their expert leaders. "C" pilots are capable pilots with solid launching, landing and thermal soaring expertise, but have never put it all together to go XC.

Our handicapped scoring format is evolving too. TTT board member Jeff Nibler has written a neat program for us that automatically normalizes each A, B and C task to a score of 100, and multiplies by the wing performance factor to equalize the playing field for everyone.

We'll call tasks that handicap for pilot experience. "A" pilots will fly a long and challenging task that overlaps (sometimes several times) the "C" and "B" pilots courses so they may assist their mates. "B" pilot courses are of moderate length and challenging enough to keep 'em interested. "C" pilots will fly easy tasks that serve to build confidence and get them familiar with navigating to and landing in new fields. Once the "A's" have dropped off their charges, they'll go on to complete their more challenging task. "A" pilots receive big bonus points for directly assisting their mates to goal so it "pays" to stick with the less experienced pilots and help as much as possible.

The latest evolution of our teaching meet is the Gettin' Ready to Race Class. TTT created this class to help pilots who are interested in moving up to the XC racing competitions. The Gettin' Ready to Race Class will be a high level learning experience with Mike Barber and Kevin Carter providing the leadership. Kevin and Mike will have 4 pilots each to instruct on the ground and in flight. They will focus on efficient XC flying with added emphasis on start circle staging, on the course strategies, and final glide tactics to get their charges ready to race XC. This class will be scored as Kevin and Mike choose, but will not be scored against the standard Team Challenge pilots. However, the Team Challenge pilots filling the sky will serve as convenient thermal markers for our budding racers! The "Gettin' It Class" will be the most fun, intense and rewarding learning experience for up and coming XC racers in the US this year! This class will cost a bit more, but the "Racers" will be getting a week of coaching from Mike Barber and Kevin Carter along with some perks in the staging line for launch. It is one of the best values in hang gliding instruction ever!

TTT encourages everyone to join us for this great event. We will have free flying before and after the launch windows for the Team Challenge. All TTT members are welcome to participate in any or all of our wonderful seminars and join us for the award ceremonies and party. Check out old Oz Reports of recent Team Challenges for more information. This is the best learning experience for the up and coming hang glider pilot in the US. So don't miss it!

In addition to our revolutionary scoring processes, strong focus on safety, world class pilot mentors and famous radial launch ramp, this year we are looking forward to having some special sponsorships allowing for door prizes, raffle items and registered pilots gift bags. Specifics about our generous sponsors will soon be provided.

The Senior Nationals finish up

March 17, 2009, 9:23:25 EDT

The Senior Nationals finish up

Jim Lamb was flying his Silent just a few miles south of Quest Air

Jim Lamb|Quest Air

http://www.ssa.org/members/contestreports/contestresults.asp

Jim wrote:

What a treat to fly with these guys over much of central Florida we've flown many times before. There's lots of collective experience/capabilities that I wish we had some way to harvest. Yet all of them with the same shared appreciation for what we all love to do. The guy in 14th place, Don Pollard, is 84 years old! And Karl Striedieck, 1st Place, has something more than 20 National Championships.

Discuss The Senior Nationals finish up at the Oz Report forum   link»

Tennessee Tree Toppers Team Challenge 2008, the video »

October 30, 2008, 10:20:54 pm PDT

Tennessee Tree Toppers Team Challenge 2008, video

More videos

Jim Lamb|Tennessee Tree Toppers Team Challenge 2008|video

Jim Lamb|Oliver Gregory|Tennessee Tree Toppers Team Challenge 2008|video

oliver gregory «olliettt1955» writes:

My old buddy Miller Stroud's friend Beth did this from Team Challenge footage she took:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rXZIPRodcE

Jim Lamb sent me this link.  Chattanooga is getting even cooler!

http://blogs.naiglobal.com/nai_global/2008/10/index.html

Discuss Tennessee Tree Toppers Team Challenge 2008, video at the Oz Report forum   link»

Tennessee Tree Toppers Team Challenge 2008 »

October 24, 2008, 7:28:29 PDT

Tennessee Tree Toppers Team Challenge 2008

The whole story with pictures and videos

Dave Giles|Dave Hopkins|Dennis Pagen|Fred Kaemerer|James Stinnett|Jim Lamb|Kevin Carter|Kraig Coomber|Lucas Ridley|Mark Stump|Mike Barber|Oliver Gregory|photo|Steve Kroop|Steve Prater|video|weather

Lucas Ridley and oliver gregory «olliettt1955» writes:

I thought we'd never beat the fantastic soaring weather and the great line up of speakers we had for Team Challenge 2007, but we did. BY A LOT!

We stayed at Henson's every day. Only Wednesday was called due to high winds, but high wind aficionados flew for fun. Every day was soarable and good for XC for those with solid thermal soaring skills. Camping was so pleasant! It never felt too hot. Fall is wonderful in Tennessee Tree Toppers land!

We had fine meals on site made by Tennessee Tree Toppers volunteers. Aldonna had breakfast ready for us right on site every morning. The dinners for affordable donations were a big hit. I'm hungry for some of Jeff's cooking now! Jeff Wilson fed us like kings and queens. Dinner menus included ribeye steaks, pork butt, chicken and gourmet burgers and fantastic sides.

I can't say enough about the Tennessee Tree Toppers volunteers. The place looked great. The hand outs were excellent. The launch crew was top notch. We had excellent help all week! Tennessee Tree Toppers supporters were very creative this year. We had homemade Tennessee Tree Toppers soap, cologne, stickers, magnets, gift boxes, Tennessee Tree Toppers license plates and cards for sale to help with fund raising for our Whitwell LZ Field of Dreams project.

I want to thank those industry supporters who contributed items to award to our pilots. Steve Kroop of Flytec USA, Wills Wing, Kraig Coomber of Moyes USA, LMFP all helped out with great hang gliding bling. And, of course, we want to thank you, Davis, for getting the word out on the Oz Report!

We went high tech this year with video and Power Point presentations! Every evening and all day on the windy day we enjoyed great seminars. Our great A pilots were helping out in every way possible. Mark Stump led the Arkansas Air Hogs and did his hilariously funny talk on assessing the air and one's personal skills in the context of the micro meteorology of the day. Mike Barber became our most professional wind technician, did several excellent talks ranging from XC decision making, to landing video clinics and safe flying. Boy, Mike pulled us this year! Thanks Mike!

Hang gliding author, Dennis Pagen led a team, led a wonderfully effective video launch technique seminar where every launch was analyzed. Dennis promotes the prolonged grape vine launch technique and it works great. My launch technique certainly improved due to this unique seminar. Dennis also did a great "Scratching" seminar for soaring in light lift.

Jim Lamb led the Ohio Flyers to second place, did a fantastic "Soaring 101" that explained polars, thermal soaring efficiently and using the MacCready function correctly. For a lot of the C's, this talk was a little over their heads, but all the A's and B's were nodding and smiling enthusiastically as Jim made points we put to use the next day.

Terry Presley substituted for an absent A pilot, pulled a C to goal, made goal himself so the team scored big that day! (They won overall!) Terry also did a seminar on "XC Landing Field Assessment." We learned to read the terrain, look for hazards and set up good approaches over unfamiliar fields. His seminar also included short field landing techniques. I didn't hear of anyone needing to use the short field techniques, because the Sequatchie has so many big fields, but the guys were ready. Kevin Carter led a team and gave a great "Gettin' Ready to Race" seminar addressing the unique skills needed to move up to XC racing.

We followed the format set a couple years back. We called conservative tasks for C's, B's and challenging tasks for A's. The scoring system is designed to heavily handicap A pilots on super ships, but our A's were so good, they were scoring more than the C's who made their goals. C's who were making shorter goals got big multipliers of their milages. In the spirit of Team Challenge, we made a big adjustment mid week. The adjustment resulted in all pilots at every level getting a score of 100 when they made their goal. We made this scoring format retroactive to the first day. The handicaps were simply accomplished by the progressively tougher tasks for the 3 classes. A's still got bonuses for "really, really" helping their C's make goal. This put the scoring emphasis back on the C's and turned the scores around and away from teams loaded with A's. At any other comp, fist fights would have broken out, but everyone at Team Challenge welcomed the adjustment which rewarded the C's for their flights.

Courses always overlapped so the A's could help their team mates make their shorter goals before the A's took off for their more challenging task. We usually did race track or out and back, and repeat tasks so the A's could stay with their team and help the less experienced pilots. A good example is the last task. We called a C pilot goal to Galloway Airport 5 miles into the valley on a light wind day. B pilot task was to fly to Galloway and back to Henson's LZ for a about 9.5 miles. The A pilot task was fly to Galloway, back to Henson's, back to Galloway and back to Henson's to land for a task of almost 20 miles.

This format keeps the A pilots flying with or overlapping their team and allows the A pilots to get a section of their task done while their C's and B's made the shorter goals or missed it the first time. We allowed as many reflights as possible as long as the landing was in one of the designated LZ's. Actually all relights got bonus reflight points.

This is what happened to me on the last day. I love my Pale Glider Team, but they had a tough last day. I launched right with most of my C pilot buddies but they all missed the light thermals and landed. I got up and ran the first lap with my free flying buddy James Stinnett. When I got back to Henson's after lap one, I waited around in yo yo mode till my team set up again to re-fly.

I spiraled down to take off height when they got close to the front of the launch line. This allowed me to fly with them a second time. I helped as much as possible, as did one of my VR flying friends David Giles. I know it was kinda cheating to have Dave on his VR space ship spiraling down with me to get below launch and help out, but that day, my guys needed all the help they could get!

We did everything but throw 'em a rope! Unfortunately, the guys still didn't get their climb tickets punched, so I ran the second lap of the task with my friend Dave. Lots of fun, but it would have been even sweeter if we'd pulled some of the boys out to their goal.

This meet was all about the C's and B's. I want to thank all the A pilots who spent the week working with their less experienced team mates. I'm happy to say that all 4 of my C pilots made their XC goals at least once this week. I believe all of my guys had their longest XC flights this week! It was clear all 52 competitors had a blast and many pilots had personal bests this meet.

Here's how the teams ended up after a 6 days of Team Challenge flying:

In Tenth place were Team Mountaineers with A pilots Will Jenkins on a topless, A Jim Rowan on a double surface. A pilot Patrick Brooks on a double surface. A pilot Patrick Brooks on a double surface, A pilot Pat Halfill on a double surface, A pilot John McAllister on a topless.

In Ninth place were the Arkansas Air Hogs. They had 6 and flew 5 a day. They were loaded with A+ pilot and my best old flying buddy Mark Stump on a VQ, A pilot Barron McKinley on an ATOS C, B pilot Walter Jordan on a double surface, B pilot Butch Pritchett on a topless, C pilot Steve Prater on a double surface, and my old buddy Miller Stroud making his comeback to hang gliding on an ancient wing, the Manta Fledge IIB! The last time I flew with Miller, I was on one too! On that last day, Dave Giles and I were spiraling down to get with my C's when Miller launched. I asked Dave if he'd ever seen one of those funny looking wings before. Dave said, "Maybe in a museum!"

In Eighth place were The Leftovers with A+ pilot Bruce Engen on a VX, B pilot Kinsley Sykes on a topless, C pilot Jonathan Small on a double surface, C pilot Rodger Tubbs on a double surface, and C pilot Kevin Sheridan on a double surface.

In Seventh place were Team Colorado with A pilot Jeff Laughery on a topless, B pilot Fred Kaemerer on a double surface, B pilot Shawn Banks on a double surface, B pilot John Wilber on a double surface and C pilot Rick Maddy on a double surface.

In Sixth place were my boys! The Pale Gliders had 6 and flew 5 a day. Our team was full of talent with C pilots Colin Hodson on a double surface, Jake Mitchell on a double surface, Jeff Bozart on a double surface and Ricker "The Ringer" Goldsborough on a double surface. My old buddy A pilot Larry Snyder flew in from Seattle WA, rented a Sport 2 from Lookout and had a blast. I was on The Pale Glider VR and am ranked A+. We had a so much FUN!!!

In Fifth place were Team B'Low Me Again with A+ team leader Dennis Pagen on a topless, A pilot Stephen Krichen on a topless, B pilot Jesse Fulkersin on a Topless, C pilot Donald Campasino on a double surface, and C pilot Edward Jowett on a double surface.

In Fourth place were The Comp Concepts with A++ pilot Kevin Carter leading, B pilot Jeff Nibler on a double surface, B pilot Bryon Estes on a topless, B pilot Peter Kane on a topless, and C pilot William Estes on a double surface.

In Third place were The E Team with A+ pilot Dave Hopkins on an ATOS B with a tail and modified spoilers, A pilot Stan Roberts on a Phantom, B pilot Lindsey Chew on a double surface, C pilot James Donovan on a double surface, and C pilot Gavin Riley on a double surface.

In Second place, was Team Ohio led by "The Man" Jim Lamb A++ on an ATOS VQ that my old buddy Miller took home with him after the dust settled. The rest of the Ohio boys are C pilot Terry Mull n a double surface, C pilot Mark Thogmartin on a double surface, C pilot Christopher Thale on a double surface, and B pilot Crain Hassen on a double surface

Winning it all, a team with some local boys leading was Team Thermal Underware. The Underwares were made up of A pilot Eric Donaldson on a WW T2, A pilot Lucas Ridley on a Litespeed S, C pilot William Baker on a double surface, B pilot Keith Smith on a U2, and Bob Belshan on a double surface.

I can't wait to do it again next year. Team Challenge is evolving in a very interesting and healthy way. Just don't miss it next year! The winning Thermal Underwear team was led by super duper A's Eric Donaldson and Lucas Ridley. They were the coolest team leaders beyond a doubt! Here's the story of the Thermal Underware A leader and prototype Team Challenge pilot Lucas Ridley. Thanks Lucas for all the help with the write up! In Lucas' words:

My Team Challenge history begins one year ago, the day before the meet started was the first day I thermal soared! I went into that meet a new H3 with only ridge soaring under my belt. Now, a year later, I am a leading a team with Eric Donaldson. Because of that one week of flying a year ago I was propelled into another dimension of hang gliding that would have taken much longer to find on my own, if at all. After Team Challenge 2007, I flew all winter and spring and got up the nerve up to go to the East Coast Championships. I was hooked! Only two months later I went to the Big Spring Championship. All this within less than a year of Team Challenge.

I credit Tennessee Tree Toppers's incredible meet with motivating me to fly a lot and teaching me cross country skills. Otherwise, I think I would have puttered around my home site for another year or two before I built up the courage to venture out.

Encouragement is where Team Challenge really excels. Team Challenge like meets can do a lot for our sport by creating opportunities for those pilots in H2 purgatory who have not had a formal introduction to cross country flying or competition to try it out in a welcoming environment. Heck, Kevin Carter's first competition was a Team Challenge and he went on to be a World team member and comes back to help give seminars and lead his own teams. Ollie's H2 driver even learned a lot just from listening to the seminars and the radio each day and plans to come back next year on a team.

I have new respect for what A-pilots do and what Mike Barber does all the time when helping out lower air time pilots. It adds a new dynamic to not only try to make your goal, but fly as a team and help others along. Many times that required spiraling down to be at the same level with those you were trying to help and sacrificing altitude that you've struggled to achieve.

One of the best video seminars featured Dennis Pagen critiquing everyone's  launch! Not to say you can't pop your nose with the grapevine grip, but the worst launches I witnessed were using the bottle grip. I think everyone took something away from the talk, and here are a few example pictures of what we saw:

The first and second photo sets show how easy it is to pop your nose with the bottle grip where the only contact with the glider is through the hands, not the shoulders. The next two photos show what most people did at the meet: start with grapevine and transition to the bottle grip during the launch sequence. Dennis called this transition 'unnecessary' and felt it still allows for an opportunity to pop the nose. Bottle vs. Grapevine:

The last two sets of photos show holding the grapevine grip throughout the launch sequence by allowing the hands to slide down the downtubes as the glider begins to lift above the pilot. The shoulders lock the glider to the pilots body as it continues to lift, enabling three axis control during the entire launch sequence.

That is just one example from the many great seminars that were given by the pro's that came out to volunteer their knowledge, many thanks to them! I hope to go to more competitions in the future and it all started at Team Challenge where I continued to learn so much this year. I would encourage all H2's to try to get their H3 by next Team Challenge so you can get signed up early. It filled up early this year, and I anticipate it filling up even sooner this coming year. See you there! Lucas Ridley

Below are some of the comments made on our club email list after the event and links to videos from the event:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AXAYoENhlQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9LsxxNiEu4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLgg_5OLpLw

There is a loss for words on how to express my deepest appreciation for all who contributed to this years team challenge. I am blessed to know that there is NO where else in the world that you can go to learn at this level from the best pilots ever. (This is history in the making)

The level of knowledge at this event was unprecedented. We had the top pilots there to teach us what they know. It is one thing to be a great pilot and another to have the ability and willingness to teach others. The best pilots in the world were there and ALL of them knew how to share their knowledge with passion and a genuine loving spirit.

I THANK YOU ALL FOR BEING SO GENEROUS WITH YOUR SHARING AND TEACHING. The knowledge base was HUGE! Even our drivers were amazed in what they learned.

Ollie, I have to give you thanks for keeping a tight hold on the leash. Even when you are stressed out you have a rather calming nature about you. You are truly blessed with many positive personality traits that I hope to obtain in the years to come.

Congratulations Bill for clenching the "C" pilot Rookie of the Year award. You truly earned it.

I will see you all next year.

2008 Team Challenge, Day 5

October 3, 2008, 9:08:33 MDT

2008 Team Challenge, Day 5

Blue Day

Dennis Pagen|Jim Lamb|Lucas Ridley|Mike Barber|Tennessee Tree Toppers Team Challenge 2008|Terry Presley

http://lucasridley.blogspot.com/

Today was a later day, as usual for this NW facing site. My team was able to launch around 3 after about 20 other gliders. The day was called to be a good, albeit blue, day with the inversion rising to 6,500'-7,000', which is good for this site and 500 avg fpm climbs.

Lucas Ridley «lucasridley» writes:

Yesterday was a fun blue day. It was tough though. There was only 9 competitors that made their goals. The task was called for everyone (A, B, and C pilots) to land in the same field and there were just different turn around waypoints for the B's and A's and that field was the only waypoint for the C's. There was a big gaggle of pilots over launch and many C pilots it was there first time to thermal with a number of other gliders. As I type Dennis Pagen, Jim Lamb, and Mike Barber are going over rules of the sky with everyone because there were some close calls with the less experienced pilots. I'm sure they and everyone are learning a lot with every experience at this meet, I know I am. For example, there were seven happy pilots who raised their hands this morning that had their first xc flights yesterday.

I have a lot of respect for what Mike Barber does at Wallaby when he flies with someone to teach them. It is quite difficult and adds an interesting dynamic for the A pilots for their priority of this meet is to fly and stay with less experienced pilots. I landed at the goal field, without having completed my task because I was spending my time helping someone else, but I had a keg to look forward to that was kindly donated to help raise money to buy a landing field, as well as the pork butt and chicken that was cooked all day which was another donation to raise lz money.

Thanks to Terry Presley for taking Eric Donaldsons place on our team for yesterday which he was able to get our C pilot and himself to complete their task (2 of the 9 were on my team!), which has kept us in first. After dinner Terry conducted a seminar on restricted landing field approaches and landing.

Today is a triangle task for the A's and the B and C's get dropped off at the second and first vertex of the triangle. Hopefully, it should be a better day than yesterday with it being a little hotter of a day, but it will be blue. Here are the team scores with the new scoring system that I think we'll be adopting, where the biggest changes lay in normalizing the points for making goal for all pilots. Now everyone gets a flat 100 points for making goal, then a multiplier for their wing type and then a set amount of bonus points (instead of another multiplier) for escorting another pilot, relights, and landing at the goal LZ:

1- 1,922 - Thermal Underwear 2- 1,727 - Team Ohio 3- 1,715 - E Team 4- 1,433 - B'Low Me Again 5- 1,371 - Comp Concepts 6- 1,236 - The Pale Gliders 7- 1,131 - Team Colorado 8- 1,011 - The Leftovers 9- 916 - Mountaineers 10- 825 - Air Hogs

Since the Mountaineers have been dropping in scores because they only have A pilots, The Leftovers were in last place. The E Team has dropped from a solid second to being in 3rd by only 12 points though. Dennis' team jumped from 7th to 4th as well, but I don't think he is going to be flying today. He has offered to measure sprogs today and tomorrow which I am looking forward to since I bought my Litespeed used.

There is only one more day of competition after today and tomorrow night there is a pizza place bringing in their trailer to make hand tossed pizzas at launch with a couple kegs of beer that is on the Tree Toppers! But I know there will be plenty of donations for the lz fund.

2008 Team Challenge

September 25, 2008, 10:09:02 MDT

2008 Team Challenge

Ready to go

Dennis Pagen|Jim Lamb|Kevin Carter|Mark Stump|Mike Barber|Oliver Gregory|Tennessee Tree Toppers Team Challenge 2008|video

oliver gregory «olliettt1955» writes:

www.tennesseetreetoppers.org

We are about to get the 2008 Team Challenge cranked up. It has been dry for several weeks so we are anticipating some good flying. We are packed with 10 teams. We have scheduled nightly talks by Mike Barber, Kevin Carter, Dennis Pagen, Jim Lamb, Terry Presley, Mark Stump, Stan Roberts and Lindsey Chew. We also have video landing and launch clinics to tune up these skills for all the pilots in the team challenge. Lots of fun side events are planned as well.

Big Spring Internationals, day four, Tuesday »

August 5, 2008, 9:39:32 pm CDT

Big Spring

Screw the wind, let's do a triangle

Big Spring Internationals 2008|Blue Sky|Chris Zimmerman|David Glover|dust devil|Dustin Martin|Flytec 6030|Glen Volk|Jeff O'Brien|Jim Lamb|sailplane

The results are found here: http://soaringspot.com/BSI2008 (flex wing) and http://soaringspot.com/BSIR2008 (rigid).

David Glover, meet director, blogging: http://2007worlds.blogspot.com/

Jeff O'Brien blogging here: http://hang6.blogspot.com

Big Spring continues to live up to its reputation as the World's premier hang gliding competition site. The cu's and conditions today were unbelievable any where else, but just part of the regular deal here at Big Spring. So many pilots had big smiles on their faces today as they came back to the airport.

The forecast was for east winds (starting off east northeast), up to 14 knots at the height of the -3. East winds are rare her and they are due to Edouard, the tropic storm on the Texas coast near the border with Louisiana. The day started with light south west winds (8 knots to 3,000') but the forecasts showed that the winds would switch by 1 PM.

The forecast also called for cu's at 11 to 12 thousand feet, strong lift (averaging 700 fpm), and 100 degrees on the ground again. This is really hot for this area which is usually about five degrees cooler at this time. The east winds caused a bit of concern for the task committee, but if we really had cu's and strong lift, we felt that it was possible to come back to the airport.

We called a task over the cultivated area going first 29 miles to the northwest then 23 miles almost straight east (actually east northeast) right into the head wind, with a final leg, late in the day, 22 miles south (cross wind) to the airport. We knew that the second leg would be the toughest, but with good conditions we felt that it was doable, and well worth it to come back to Big Spring (something that we were never able to do last year at the 2007 Worlds).

The cu's were already popping at the task committee meeting at 11 AM. Kraig was concerned that it might OD, especially with the tropical storm coming (maybe earlier than was forecast). So we first called a smaller triangle, but when it still looked good at 1:15, we chose the longer task.

With one tug down (Tim crashed it when practicing landings after he finished towing for the day yesterday, he is recovering), we called for an hour and fifteen minutes of launch time before the first start time and asked pilots to cooperate and get going right away. Of course, with less resources, it was in their interest to get going right away. They cooperated.

The winds at the airport on the ground were switching between north and east and we kept switching between the north taxi way and the east taxi way. This worked great given where we set up.

On this day five pilots got in line before me so you know that they were eager and willing to spend one hour and fifteen minutes at least before they could go on the task. This is rare.

There was plenty of lift right away with lots and lots of cu's around. Dustin had lots of problems with towing and weaklinks (even breaking the tug's weaklink) and taking out a tip wand on one of his many landings. He did mention at our "team meeting" that he had previously started last here at Big Spring and lapped the field. And that he might try that again. Now that he was way behind it looked like he would have to take the last start time.

We climbed right away to over 10,000' and the cu's were really working. We had agreed to take the second start time so we hung out and enjoyed ourselves.

Jeff O'Brien went out near the edge of the start circle with Glen Volk ten minutes before the second start time and told Shapiro and I that he found 700 fpm 2 km inside the start cylinder. Shaprio and I were hanging under a dark cloud 3 km's out from the airport (the start cylinder is 12 km). So when we got out to the start cylinder a few minutes later O'Brien and Glen were higher and ready to get in front first. Chris Zimmerman had already taken the first start time and was out on the course with only Michael Williams.

It was a cross wind slog up to the northwest to Flower Grove. The wind was 10 to 15 mph out of the east northeast. There were plenty of cu's, as we jumped across the streets. Glen and O'Brien were always high and just in front of us. Shapiro and I were working together with lots of other pilots, who also took the second start time. I wasn't getting high, as I kept leaving the poor lift, anything less than 400 fpm.

I headed for a really good looking cu just south east of the turnpoint and was rewarded with lift over 500 fpm. I saw Glen and O'Brien just over me, enjoying this smooth strong lift to 11,000'. This was plenty enough lift and height to get me around the turnpoint and headed into the wind. There were cu's just to the north of the course line (it was blue to the south of these), so I headed for the cu's.

Now that we were flying on the lift line, instead of across them, the lift was much better. There were half a dozen pilots around, or just ahead. We were compressed by the 13 mph head wind. I found strong lift and soon caught back up with Shapiro and six other pilots.

I found better lift than the pilots circling about half way down the leg, and got all of them to join me as we got back to 11,000'. I headed out first again and just started jumping from cu to cu finding good strong lift. Derrick and I hooked up with Jim Lamb in his Silent sailplane (he decided to fly that instead of his AIR ATOS VQ) near Ackerly. The lift was so promising and just what we needed to be able to press ahead.

Seven miles from the second turnpoint I saw Glen Volk high and behind me circling up with Dustin who had caught up with him. Glen had been in the lead until this point (ignoring Chris and Michael, who started earlier). He and Dustin were way high, but I was climbing out in front of them under the same cu. As I headed toward the last cu before the turnpoint Glen came by me, but he was only a few hundred feet higher. That seemed a bit strange.

After not finding good lift in the next thermal (Glen did), I headed out toward the turnpoint which had a six mile section of blue sky with no cu's in front of it. Derrick may have been just in front of me at my altitude.

There was plenty of sink on the way to the turnpoint, but I could see a smallish cu forming over the turnpoint. Nothing like what we had been thermaling under on this leg, but promising none the less. By the time I got to the turnpoint I was down to 2,000' AGL. I saw Derrick in front of me past the turnpoint turning so I continued but didn't find anything and I was not interested in landing in this rough area, away from the farm lands.

I searched around to the southwest, downwind after not finding the thermal that Derrick was in and found a rough one at 1,000' AGL.  In spite of its rough nature, I gritted my teeth and held on. I needed to get as high as I could so that I could have a chance to find a friendlier thermal out back on the flats and over farm land. I climbed to 6,300' and then went searching seeing dust devils to the south west.

The goal was to the south, but the winds were east northeast pushing us away from the course line. The winds were between 13 mph and 16 mph. I jumped over to a nice thermal spotted by Glen Volk who was near me again and that got me to 7,000'. We then jumped over to another thermal, that really turned on averaging 600 fpm to 10,300'.

Zac came in and joined Glen and I at my altitude (which makes for a wake, which I dislike). Glen was just above us (maybe 20 feet) and we were screaming up. I was watching the 6030 and seeing that we had goal made, no problem, but the lift was so strong there was no need to risk it as we were fifteen miles out.

Finally, we headed out and then found really strong lift. Zac and I found it first getting 760 fpm for a minute or so as we flew straight. We were so high we didn't need to turn and all we needed to do is pull in as much as we were comfortable with given the turbulence that we encountered. Glen was to our left more under the clouds, and while he didn't get the lift that we got at first he found more lift later, as we were doing everything to get down and go as fast as possible.

We hauled it into goal and still I was too high at 1,000' AGL. Zac got down faster and better as did Glen. Glen was unhappy that he was in the lead and then lost it on his glide to the second turnpoint, where I caught him.

Chris Zimmerman won the day flying pretty much by himself and getting to goal as fast as Dustin. Dustin was second starting at the last start time, but flying fast. Chris took two thirds of the arrival points (OzGAP 2005). So Dustin (and by extension of rest of us) had many fewer points.

Pilots were very excited to get back to Big Spring. We got to leave our hang gliders set up in the hangar.

We noticed before we left that there were cirrus clouds to the southeast. They were coming from Edouard. We were concerned that they might shut us down, but they didn't. Here's what it looked like at 2:40 PM, five minutes before our first start time. You can see the cu's near us (at the bottom of the panhandle in the middle - east to west) and the arm of cirrus that we could see.

Big Spring Internationals, Day two, Sunday, continued »

August 4, 2008, 8:32:38 CDT

Big Spring

We set the record

Belinda Boulter|Big Spring Internationals 2008|Chris Zimmerman|David Glover|dust devil|Dustin Martin|Flytec 6030|Glen Volk|Jeff O'Brien|Jeff Shapiro|Jim Lamb|Kraig Coomber|Mark Stump|record

The results are found here: http://soaringspot.com/BSI2008 (flex wing) and http://soaringspot.com/BSIR2008 (rigid).

David Glover, meet director, blogging: http://2007worlds.blogspot.com/

Jeff O'Brien blogging here: http://hang6.blogspot.com

Jeff Shapiro had mentioned to me early on that he wanted a 200 mile flight at the Internationals, and later he was appointed by the meet director, David Glover, and approved by the pilots, to the task committee. With strong winds out of the south and the possibility of high cu's (11 to 12 thousand feet), Kraig Coomber was all for such a task and I was, also.

I had set up some far away waypoint for the 2007 Worlds, and we are using the same waypoints so we already had points out to 265 miles. We picked one at the town of Panhandle 215 miles out and hoped for the best. The forecast showed south west winds there so we thought we might have to battle the west component on the last leg of the flight.

There were no clouds at launch time at 12:45. The wind was 12 to 16 mph on the ground south right down the runway and we got a break not having to haul our gliders down to the north in the strong winds. We launched right next to the hangar.

The first rigid off broke a weaklink, so that was discouraging given the pretty hefty winds at launch. Then Jim Yokom turtled his glider when he told Mark Stump not to hold onto the keel. This resulted in road rash on the thin ATOS sail. Fortunately Jim Lamb, the ATOS distributor, had some sail tape for him to cover the nasty gashes. So the start of launch was not what we had hoped and pilots are always less happy when there aren't any cu's.

James Stinnet in an Aeros Phantom took off and then again I was the first flex wing to launch. But it was already 1 PM, and our launch had been opened for 15 minutes and pilots were holding back. As we only had a hour before the start window opened at 1:45, this reluctance would cause some pilots to get late starts.

We had widened the start cylinder to 12 km so that pilots could drift with the wind. This concern about staying in the start cylinder until the start time was another factor in keeping pilots on the ground. Fortunately we allow pilots to start early with only a mild "penalty."

I got the two stroke tug with the slow ascent rate and the first thousand feet were exciting as I couldn't get my glider down to get behind the tug and we continually got tossed around. But after that the air was smooth in spite of the 20 mph head wind and as soon as we went from 400 fpm to 800 fpm, I pinned off in a thermal that I would stay in for the next forty five minutes.

I reported the lift and the conditions to Belinda on the ground and that got everyone going, if a bit late. Three rigid pilots hadn't even turned their gliders around to get to launch. I think that they didn't even attempt to fly. Numerous pilots chose not to launch.

I hung in the thermal and watched the dark line of the inversion to the west which told me why we weren't seeing any cu's. The forecasted temperature with altitude line had not shown such a strong inversion. It started to be visible at 6,200' and I slowly climbed to 7,600'. We wouldn't see any cu's anywhere within 100miles of us on this day.

I was drifting near the edge of the start circle and doubled back just to stay inside. Thankfully there was zero sink around and I could keep inside as I watched a few other pilots circling to my south. I had to start 30 seconds early (which gave me a minute "penalty") when I lost the lift. This put me in the lead looking for lift.

I found some at 2,500' AGL near highway 87, 4 miles out, and radioed back my position. Dustin and the Jeff's came my way. Dustin was near my altitude as I climbed up and we stayed in the thermal until we got to 8,500'. The thermal had slowed down quite a bit near the end but Dustin was very reluctant to leave wanting other pilots to catch up with us so that we could go out into the blue together. We had a long ways to go and many places to go down. Glen Volk and Chris Zimmerman had come in underneath us and were climbing. The Jeff's we behind us and lower. No one else came to join us.

We headed north toward our goal just east of Amarillo, at the town of Panhandle. All of us spread out to help each other find lift. We knew we had to work together to get to goal and we would help each other throughout the flight. Chris Zimmerman got low and we lost track of him.

Our track kept us way east of La Mesa. When gliding we were getting about 65 mph over the ground. When thermaling we were drifting 20 to 25 mph down wind. The thermals were averaging 300 to 400 fpm. Not super strong, but we were getting plenty high, over 8,000'.

At about 60 miles out we climbed to 10,300' over a dust devil and Jeff O'Brien joined up with us. Jeff Shapiro and Kraig Coomber were just behind us out of sight and Shapiro was trying to catch us also. He was pushing too hard to catch us and later would land about 90 miles out. Belinda, handling the short distance retrieve, would pick him up and take him back to Big Spring.

Glen, Jeff, Dustin, and I continued to work the flight together using each other to find the lift. We always spread out and we always went together to the north after climbing in the last thermal. Sometimes one and sometimes another would be in the lead, but we would all get back together for the next climb.

East of Lubbock I went out and found strong lift and then higher than the rest headed further east than they wanted to go. I had to work on my own for a few minutes and then found a really strong thermal that got to 1000 fpm, while they were a little too far away from me to join me. I got high and headed north and saw Dustin very low searching and scooting quickly across the ground below. Glen and Jeff were further to his east over green fields, low but not as low as Dustin.

Dustin searched every where and found lift at 500' AGL. Hard turns in a very strong wind kept him in it. I was high over Glen and Jeff and after toping out headed north. We had been flying over farm lands but up ahead were some canyon areas which we could just make out. It looked like we could get around the first one by going a bit to the west. I was on my own for a while but we were all in radio contact.

I worked around the first canyon found some lift off a brown field and as I climbed up I saw Glen to the east. I hooked up with him and we carefully climbed up in the weak lift. Jeff and Dustin were just ahead. We were all discussing the large upcoming canyon to our north.

Glen and I climbed up and I left at 8,300' while Glen continued climbing (Glen was not in radio contact with us). I knew that Jeff and Dustin were just a few miles in front, but I didn't know that they were so low. I saw Jeff's shadow on the ground to the west and then saw him low way below me. Dustin was further west almost at the rim of the canyon low and climbing slowly. The canyon looked unlandable (although Zippy would later land there). We had to get high on the south side before going over.

I followed Jeff from about 2,000' over him to the northwest near where Dustin was circling on the rim, although we didn't see him. We did see an ATOS landing just on the south rim having been over the canyon and having flown back against a strong head wind to a safe landing area.

I was working some reasonable lift when Jeff caught a good one just south of me down low. I joined him in his thermal and we screamed up to 9,400' drifting over the canyon. Glen came and joined us at our altitude. I was the first to leave as I was on top and we were plenty high to make it over. Dustin had drifted over the south rim into the canyon working 100 fpm from 1,500' AGL at the rim. He worked weak lift all through the canyon. He was in radio contact with us asking how we were doing and he could also see our progress.

When Dustin got to the north rim he worked weak lift there to get up over the hot red rocks. By the time I got to the north rim Dustin joined us. I was now 100 feet below Glen, Dustin and Jeff having taken the lead out. We were now 28 miles out from goal and working weak lift and hoping to get all of us into goal. We really huddled together to make sure that we stayed in the air long enough for the winds to carry us there.

The three just above me found a core that I didn't find but I was still working lift and doing okay. My 6030 was saying that I had goal with 2,000' about 14 miles out. It was 16:1 to goal. Having not found the nice thermal that these guys just above me were in I went on glide toward goal. I knew that there was a lot of sink out there as we had experienced through out the flight when not in a thermal, so it was a gamble. The others also started for goal just above me.

There was a lot of sink at first and my height above goal prediction went from 2,050' to 780'. At five miles out and 1,300' AGL I felt a little bit of lift and for the next one and a half miles just drifted in zero sink as the 27 mph south southwest wind was taking me right toward goal. That drifting was enough to allow me to get to goal with 300', in fourth place.

Dustin won the day with Jeff five seconds behind and Glen just behind him. Kraig Coomber came in a bit later. James Stinnet got there first in his Aeros Phantom. But not too long before us.

It was great to fly together to all help each other reach the goal. Dustin almost landed, but made a great save. Jeff was playing it a bit safer as was Glen.

Team Challenge Update

June 24, 2008, 10:37:18 pm +0200

Team Challenge

It's full.

Dennis Pagen|Jim Lamb|Kevin Carter|Mark Stump|Mike Barber|record|Tennessee Tree Toppers|video|weather

Dennis Pagen|Jim Lamb|Kevin Carter|Mark Stump|Mike Barber|Oliver Gregory|record|Tennessee Tree Toppers|video|weather

oliver gregory «olliettt1955» writes:

After all the great feedback from Team Challenge 2007, we've enjoyed exceptional interest in our fall teaching meet this year. The Tree Toppers hope to outdo themselves with an even better experience this fall. Team Challenge will start Saturday September 27th with a pilot meeting at 7PM. The meet will start Sunday, September 28th and end Saturday, October 4th. We'll have a fun party mid week and a big awards dinner party at the end of the meet. We have an incredible line up of talent helping us with talks and workshops again this year.

Mark Stump will give his fabulous "Fly4Fun/Is It Safe" talk to start us off Saturday night. Mark's is my favorite hang gliding talk and will set the tone for the meet.

Dennis Pagen will present a "Video Launch Seminar", a "Gaggle Flying and Scratching" talk, and help with all our other seminars.

Jim Lamb will give us an "Essentials of Thermal Soaring" talk to help us stay airborne.

Terry Presley will give us a "Restricted Landing Field Technique Seminar" with video enhanced learning for when we venture from the nest.

Mike Barber will present his great "XC Decisions" talks, contribute to other talks and help out.

Kevin Carter will do his "Good Landing Techniques" and "XC Strategies" talks with video enhanced learning and everything else he does.

New Englander Lindsey Chew will do a "SeeYou Seminar" with Stan Roberts helping. We plan to download a team's GPS tracks and run them simultaneously on SeeYou over Google Maps to relive the "Thrill of Victory and Agony of Defeat" thing with the team that wins a good day. This will provide fodder for our panel of experts to comment on the flights.

We'll have a "Weather Talk for the Attention Deficit Disordered." No! I will never make anyone suffer through one of my weather talks again! This talk will be fast and furious weather for the point and clicker with help from Nate Newkirk, Jeff Nibler and me. We'll have hand outs! Nate and the gang have come up with some amazing stuff. It's guaranteed to blow your socks off!

OK! Lets count 'em! That's five Former US National Team Members, A World Record Holder, A World Champion, some New Englanders that talk funny, a couple of not too shabby old Arkansans and some incredibly talented up and coming pilots in this group.

NOW FOR THE BAD NEWS!

We haven't even tried to promote it and we are already full! We set up online registration a couple of months ago on our TTT website www.tennesseetreetoppers.org and were pleasantly surprised by the incredible interest. TC2008 filled with registered pilots a couple of weeks ago. Now we have an online waiting list at our website. Now we have an online waiting list at our website.

With all this interest, we will allow willing teams to have 6 or 7 pilots on the team for the same cost as a team of 5. This would be a cost of $550 to be shared among the pilots. Only 5 pilots from a team will be allowed to compete each day due to setup and launch area restrictions. At least one "A pilot" team leader must fly every day to lead their teams! Teams bigger than 5 will decide which pilots will fly or drive each day. All pilots must be members of the TTT to participate. Teams already registered should contact me if they are interested in adding extra members.

Slots will open up, so keep checking in. We have accepted registrations without payment to hold slots. On July 15th, pilots who have not sent in their checks for registration will be dropped off our list so more slots may open then. We'll make an announcement on the Oz Report and the TTT website when slots open up.

Team Challenge 2007 was a fantastic success for all who participated and TC2008 will be even better. The early fall weather is great for flying, camping and hanging out in the Sequatchie Valley of Eastern Tennessee. This is a beautiful place with lots of friendly people who are all jazzed about hang gliding. We welcome pilots to join the Tree Toppers and participate in the great experience as volunteers, wind technicians, drivers and merry makers for the first Team Challenge with our Revamped Radial Ramp! Visit our site at www.tennesseetreetoppers.org

Keep checking in for the slots to open. I'm looking forward to all the fun and learning. Can't wait!

Actually it was promoted, in the Oz Report.

Discuss Team Challenge at the Oz Report forum   link»

Raining in Laragne, also

June 17, 2008, 5:15:52 pm +0200

Laragne-Montéglin

Getting adjusted to the country

Jim Lamb|weather

We arrived at the LZ, camping area in Laragne-Montéglin in the early afternoon driving through pouring rain. They've had one day of flying here in the last week. It is supposed to be sunny and flyable tomorrow. It has been raining for a month. The pilots here are about to commit suicide.

West Texas is in drought and Iowa is flooded, especially near Jim Lamb's office building:

He writes:

Tough to get much air going up when it's this wet below! My office is in the middle somewhere.

Forecast looks good in Laragne as the sun comes out in the afternoon, see here.

Henson's Gap⁣ Ramp Update

Mon, May 5 2008, 8:46:22 am EDT

Gap News

Ramping up

Jim Lamb|Oliver Gregory|Tennessee Tree Toppers|USHPA

Oliver Gregory «olliettt1955» writes:

Our Tennessee Tree Topper Revamp the Ramp project is going great. The decking on the new radial steel structure is almost finished. People say it looks like a cathedral from underneath. It is incredible. We are truly proud and honored that so many people helped out. We'll soon have it all done except for the ceremonial last board! The final board will be put in place by Jim Lamb our most illustrious benefactor! After all, this project was Jim's idea from the very beginning! When Jim puts down the last board, he'll have the official first launch off TTT's newly recreated Henson's Gap Radial Ramp! Then we'll party!

MAYHEM MINI MEET AND FLYIN REMINDER:

TTT is also hosting a low key XC meet and Fly In for the weekend of Memorial Day. Registration will take place at Friday at 6PM on 5/23 and continue on the morning of 5/24. The meet will run from Saturday 5/24 thru Monday 5/26.

This will be a low cost meet with Team Challenge like handicapped tasks. We'll also have fun spot landing and drop streamer bomb drop contests. The gliders and pilots will be handicapped in the same format as the Team Challenge so everyone has a shot at winning! We'll have prizes for the winners. To enter the XC contest, you must be a current TTT and USHPA member with a Hang 3 level rating, mountain cliff launch and thermal soaring experience. Hang 2 Tree Toppers may participate in the bomb drop and spot landing contests.

The cost of the XC contest will be $25. The bomb drop and spot landing contests will cost $10 to enter. Pilots may participate in all three contests. We'll give every pilot who enters the bomb drop contest a personalized Arkansas Drop Streamer made by a real Arkansan, ME! We still need a few more volunteers to help out, but the volunteers can certainly fly in the meet. Volunteers should contact me at «olliettt1955»

Here's how it will work. We have preregistration up on a link from the www.tennesseetreetoppers.org site, so get on the list. The tasks will all be called to equalize the challenges for every skill level and glider performance with emphasis on fun and learning. We expect all of the tasks will be called to keep contestants in the Sequatchie Valley with the goals being TTT approved LZ's. Low pressure and fun is what you should expect. This will be a good warm up for those interested in flying The East Coast Championships in Ridgley MD and the TTT Team Challenge this fall.

The Tree Toppers will have a nice dinner on the Saturday the 24TH. . We'll have a covered plate dinner provided by the local TTT supporters and anyone who can help with a dish. The Mayhem Mini Meet tasks and Fly In fun will work up hearty appetites!

There will be other fun things to do for pilots and friends too. Camping is free for Tree Toppers and their friends at the Henson's Gap site with nice bath and shower facilities and our club house. We expect to have wireless inter-net connection available too. All proceeds will go toward the TTT's many projects including the Revamp the Ramp Project and the Landing Field Fund. It's gonna be a blast! I'll be flying in it!!!!

Stay tuned to the Oz Report for updates and check out our website at www.tennesseetreetoppers.org for even more info on Tree Topper events like Team Challenge 2008.

Discuss "Henson's Gap⁣ Ramp Update" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Tin Cup, value for money

March 27, 2008, 7:24:14 PDT

Tin Cup

We deliver, you subscribe

Davis Straub|donations|Jim Lamb|Kraig Coomber

If we knew a way to make a fortune by providing a trusted source of hang gliding information on the internet we would, but we don't, so we have to make so with our rather lame "business" model of asking those of you who find the Oz Report at least a reasonably reliable, if not the only, source of hang gliding community news for your help with our enterprise. Without your help, well, I can't imagine us being here, at least for long.

We do our very best to provide what you find useful (and rely on many of our readers to help us out with information and articles). We're not perfect, but we're here making the effort every day.

Thanks to Kraig Coomber (who felt he was a little behind on his subscription) at Moyes USA who sent in $200 for a yearly subscription, Bill Jacques who mailed in a check for $150, and Jim Lamb at AIR USA who sent in $100. Thanks also to the other pilots who sent in more than $20 for their subscription. We very much appreciate the extra help as well as all the help we get from those Oz Report readers who subscribe.

You can send $20 or more for a yearly subscription/donation. To pay for your subscription with your credit card or PayPal account:

If you’d rather just send a check for $20 (US Dollars, only please) or more, please feel free to do so. The mail gets forwarded to me wherever I’m at.

Payable to:

Davis Straub (Not to the Oz Report)
PMB 1889 PO Box 2430
Pensacola, FL 32513

These are our supporters (if you are not on the list and have donated to the Oz Report, email me and I'll make sure that you are recognized): http://ozreport.com/supporters.php. Some of you who I've missed in the past did write to me and made sure I knew just how important the Oz Report was to them. If I've missed you, please do tell me.

Help rebuild the ramp at ⁢Henson's Gap

Wed, Jan 30 2008, 12:55:44 pm MST

Rebuild Ramp

"Purchase" one board at a time.

Jim Lamb|Oliver Gregory|Steve Kroop|Tennessee Tree Toppers|weather

http://www.treetoppers.org/

Oliver Gregory «olliettt1955» sends:

The Tennessee Tree Toppers are beginning a fund raising project to revamp the famous Radial Ramp at our Henson's Gap site which was originally built way back in 1986. It was carefully designed to promote smooth air flow and ease of launch with LOTS of vertical dive room. It is still beautiful, but getting old! The ramp had a decking face lift many years ago, but the time has come for a major makeover of this hang gliding icon.

The radial section of the ramp is supported by wooden trusses. These will soon need replacement and the planking is quite weather worn though solid for the time being. The initiator of this effort is our fellow Tree Topper Jim Lamb of A-I-R USA. Jim was one of our great team leaders during the 2007 Team Challenge. During a pleasant dinner out one night, several Tree Toppers were talking about how much the TTT club meant to the hang gliding community and lamenting about how tight our funds are for just keeping up with the basics. We were hoping the Team Challenge would help our bottom line which it did to the tune of a little over $1000 net profit. The TTT net profit for the year of 2007 was just a little over $3000, half of which goes, according to our bylaws, into our LZ fund for purchase of a landing field at our Whitwell site.

Anyway, Jim wisely reminded us of our responsibility to maintain what we have. He strongly suggested we focus on fixing up the ramp to tip top condition with any funds we could raise. Then he generously offered to match our fund raising efforts! What a guy!

Early bids for replacing the wooden radial trusses with steel beams and new concrete foundations comes to around $15,000! The steel beams under the flat part of the ramp are still in good shape. We have yet to get estimates for the cost of replacing the decking, but expect that to be in the several thousand dollar range. A TTT board committee is being created to supervise this important project. At this point, we would like your help to promote our "Revamp the Ramp" fund raiser kickoff.

We are CALLING ALL TREE TOPPERS and all who love hang gliding to help by donating to our REVAMP THE RAMP fund. We have been selling "Planks" and have many generous donors so far including Mike Nash for 10 of the $100 planks and Steve Kroop of Flytec for 6 of the $100 planks. Many others have donated items and pledged their efforts to make this work, but we have a very long way to go.

If you would like to help with this great project at the "Hang Gliding Capitol of the East", please check out our website at www.treetoppers.org for information on how to donate. We hope to raise enough funds to complete the project before Team Challenge 2008 which starts September 28th.

Thanks for all your help with this. I'll attach a photo or two that would be nice to include in this announcement. Again, we at the Tennessee Tree Toppers thank you for all the help in promoting this and want to thank all those who have contributed already and all those who pledge donations or efforts toward this necessary project. The original Wooden Radial Ramp at Henson's is one of the most recognizable hang gliding symbols in the country. Let's preserve it!

Discuss "Help rebuild the ramp at ⁢Henson's Gap" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

AIR ATOS VQ

He wants one.

VQ

October 15, 2007, 10:44:04 EDT

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Jim Lamb|Mark Stump|Tennessee Tree Toppers|weather

Mark Stump «mark489» writes:

Jim Lamb came down to the TTT Team Challenge and spent all week supporting the Atos pilots and anyone else that needed help. He brought the Atos VR and the new VQ. I have been looking forward to seeing what the latest wing out of Felix's brain would be.

Jim flew the VQ and stayed specked out all week. He let me fly it the last day of the meet which was the best weather with 500fpm up and sweet clouds at 6000+ AGL.

The VQ weighs 85 lbs, same as my V. Nice! On Jim's 7th time of setting it up he had it together in 10min and that's while answering a lot of questions.

The sail slides down the D-spars about 3' allowing the first 6 ribs to stay attached and you never need to open the sail in this area. It's super clean at this sail/flap junction.

You open up the trailing edge at the second to last rib opening and slide the tip tubes in. They have two ribs attached to them just like the VR. Plug in the tip wand that stays attached to the trailing edge. (super clean no opening for tip wand levers. Not needed.)

Go to the root and pull the sail toward the root with a long cord and pulley system. Simple, clean, quick.

Once it's together you place the root rings on the pins and cam one side in. Then zip it closed.

As you pull the sail to the root all the ribs swing into place along with the tip wand loading up. Too Cool!

The back half of the keel is now a carbon tube with the tail stand molded into it also. It's black and white and reminds me of a slick killer whale.

The static balance is neutral with the bags in the nose. Launch is easy.

The double spoilers like the VR are very far out. The roll rate is quicker and lighter than my V.

It's super stable in a wider range of bank angles. In a steep bank it stays put, not requiring any spoiler input to stay banked up or to keep it from steeping up.

It flies / thermals at least 5 mph slower than my V. I climbed turn for turn with Jim in his VR when we were together at the start. I did not see Jim again until we were at goal so I can't comment on the glide vs the VR. We went diving down to help our teammates. Huge FUN!

It glides good at 45mph with the flaps off. The flaps are the same width as the D-spar which makes them about half as wide as the ones on my V or the VR. They seemed to work just as good as the wide ones.

It lands really nice with a lower stall speed than my V and a wider flair window. It reminded me of landing the 2000 Atos, sweet, just walk it in.

I sort of wish I had not flown it because now, I want one really bad. It's the most "FUN" glider I have ever flown. Send Donations to: Mark Stump.

We've heard rumors of an AIR ATOS VQ accident in Germany within the last week, which the factory is checking out. If you know more about this please contact me at davis@davisstraub.com.

The Nationals?

October 13, 2007, 3:19:47 CDT

The Nats

The USHPA Competition Committee has voted 5 to 4 for the Nationals in Lakeview

Jim Lamb|USHPA

Now it is up to the general session where all the regional directors vote, whether the 2008 Nationals will be held in Big Spring or in Lakeview. Jim Lamb wrote to several USHPA BOD members:

I feel very strongly that ignoring regular organized competition for the 'politically correct' fly-in, is nothing more than 'dumbing down' the value of excellence and effort toward achievement, And it affects all our members. I'm hoping the some of the better thinkers on the Board share my perspective and can help guide a Competition Committee that is devoid of competitors and a clear sensibility of the activities that drive participation. Here's my letter:

For the last 2-3 years we have not had a venue for the Nationals that showcased either our sport or the caliber of pilot that you would expect to be a 'National' Champion. Having the Nationals in Big Spring, TX would do that. It is a World Class site, would attract out best and most capable, and provide the conditions and facilities that one would expect of this level of competition. It could generate a 'National' Champion that we would be proud of, aspire to, and maybe actually remember.

As a regular competition pilot, only Florida in my view has been able to offer equally reliable conditions. Florida in the April-May period and west Texas in August ±. It seems that a Nationals' type competition should happen later in the year as pilots have had a chance to 'sort' themselves out or 'earn' a spot on the roster.

Additionally, I think the Competition Committee has relied to heavily on other's to put all the pieces of their proposed event together. There would be tremendous merit, especially with the 'Nationals', to fix the site of the Nationals and then accept proposals for it's conduct/operation from whoever wanted to put it on that year. Big Spring offers tremendous facilities, Ggreat and reliable soaring conditions, and a wonderfully supportive Civic background.

Please consider this opportunity to elevate the legitimacy of our Nationals from the level of 'after-thought' competition that has existed recently. Let's give some bragging rights for the earned opportunity to participate and a venue that elevates the level of performance necessary to be called the National Champion.

Discuss The Nats at the Oz Report forum     Digg This  Reddit  DelIcioUsdel.icio.us

2007 Team Challenge, day 7

October 8, 2007, 10:02:04 PDT

Team Challenge

The weather gets good again

Bill Estes|calendar|Craig Stanley|Dave Hopkins|Dr. John "Jack" Glendening|Jim Lamb|Keith Atkins|Kevin Carter|Kraig Coomber|Lucas Ridley|Marc Fink|Mark Stump|Mike Barber|Ollie Gregory|PG|Rob Kells|scooter tow|Steve Kroop|Steve Prater|Tennessee Tree Toppers|Tennessee Tree Toppers Team Challenge 2007|video|weather

Various folks write:

Ollie, here. I’m sitting in my reclining chair on launch at Whitwell. We couldn’t have written a script for a better day. It’s 3 PM and friendly cummies are everywhere. The launch window is open till 5 PM. Winds are 8 to 12 straight in with nice thermal cycles blowing through. I’m hearing “bird right out front” from our launch crew.

The crew is launching the 5 or 6 pilots who missed it the first time. Everyone else is gone XC! There is a 10 point bonus for re-flying so our re-launchers can still make it to goal at Kimbal 13.6 miles away and actually score 10 more points than the guys who picked a bigger cycle earlier. The only penalty is setting up twice! I think any of the relights have a great shot of making it to goal.

Clark Harlow launched tandem with Peter Kane’s girlfriend Kathy about 2 hours ago and is still yo-yoing up to base at 3000’ above. It is an incredible day. The task committee thought the B’s and C’s should go to Kimbal Park and the A’s are going to come back to land at goal at the little airstrip in Dunlap for a total distance of 41.6 miles.

This morning we let the new weather geeks report the weather to the task committee with some help from the locals. I feared they had grossly overcalled the A+ and A task since winds were forecasted to be 16 knots and NE at cloud base starting at 2 to 3 PM. They were going to have to come right back into it. Now it looks like the day was under called. I’m glad it worked out that way since tonight we have the big party with hand made pizzas put together to order on site! Wow what a great last day!

[IMAGE]

Now, it's 4PM and A’s are coming back over our heads and moving on toward goal at Dunlap International! Turns out that the cloud base head wind the local pilots forecasted was only about 9 mph and more east than northeast. I saw my best old buddy Mark Stump come over on the VQ Jim Lamb encouraged him to fly today! Made me grin!

[IMAGE]

Now, it’s about 7PM and folks are rolling in to Henson’s with big grins on their faces and big appetites for the pizza that Lupi’s is cooking up for us right here tonight. We had an idea about how to report this thing. We are gonna ask pilots who flew or helped out to right a brief report on what they got out of this great week. Best learning experience I’ve ever been involved with for sure! I’m leaving the computer set up for people to have access and we’ll send it to you with some good pictures and stuff! Hopefully we’ll have a lot of good Oz Reporters!

I’m Ben de Garis. I launched my Moyes Litespeed from the Whitwell launch at approximately 12:45pm and quickly caught a thermal to the left of launch, which took me to 2700’ over the launch. Then I flew south 13.6 miles to the first turn point (Kimball, TN). I arrived at the Kimball turnpoint with 2600’ above. Then I worked UPWIND 25.1 miles to the designated goal of Galloway’s Airport to complete the task for the “A” (ranked) pilots. My airtime for this flight is 3.5 hours and 37.2 miles. My total air time for the event is 7.5 hours and a total of 96 miles!

This is my first competition and my first time to complete a task and make goal! I have enjoyed the TTT Team Challenge more than any other Hang Gliding Vacation I’ve taken in 32 years of flying. The seminars from the world class pilots have been very educational.

K. Dawkins here.This is my first year to fly the TTT Team Challenge and it was very informative as far as safety, weather to fly, thermal clinics and general instruction in the art of XC, everything it was supposed to be!!! Learned more this week than in the last five years, even though I read all the articles I can get my hands on. They are great, too, but this puts them into practice and perspective. Thanks to Ollie, Steve, Kathy, James Anderson and EVERYONE who helped out.

My name is Eric Donaldson. I just got back to camp after an amazing flight. 37 miles, most of it into the wind. As I flew back over launch on my way to goal I noticed people standing around so I yelled YEE-HAWWW I LOVE HANG GLIDING. I heard a few people yell back. I think that sums up the feeling I have. Team Challenge is a great event and every year I learn more and more. We were fortunate to have some of the world’s best pilots here to fly and share their knowledge. Life is good.

Dan T here. Ollie taught us how to read Dr. Jacks and Skew Ts. Kevin Carter taught us how to land. The sky taught us a little humility and the Tennessee Tree Toppers taught us the meaning of Southern Hospitality. A great time was had by all. Thanks everyone.

W. Jordan here. This has been a wonderful week. We flew Whitwell the whole time. Thanks to all the sponsors for the generous items that were handed out daily for individual accomplishments. If you are thinking about attending something like this, do it. You will learn more in a week than you can imagine is possible. I’m grateful for my trusty Flytec 3010 and Wills Wing U-2 for delivering me to goal at Kimball Park Tuesday. Barron helping from above on his ATOS helped out also. Thanks to all the Tree Toppers for putting something like this on.

J. Nibler here. I came, I flew XC, I learned so much. If these were held monthly, I’d find a way to get the time off at any cost. I can’t recommend this event enough to anyone interested in learning to increase their soaring abilities or learning to XC. Thanks to everyone who helped us new guys and a HUGE thanks to Ollie who really made this event shine. Can’t wait till next year!

S. Prater here. This is my third time at Team Challenge but the first year to take part. I’m a low time H3 and the last day of TC I was able to put all of the teaching from the fantastic people here into play. I got high and went far. Flew to goal…WOW, my first XC. When I arrived I couldn’t believe that I was the first there. I was greeted by a crowd of people with food and drink. And now I'm a rock star because one of the kids asked for my autograph!! Incredible week. Incredible people. Good and friendly people in the valley. Yall come now ya hear.

Mark Stump, Arkansas Air Hogs here. What a great week of learning and flying. I have been flying since 1975 and to spend a week trying to help new pilots go XC has been as hard, frustrating and rewarding as flying any task at any meet I have ever flown. I learned a lot from the nightly seminars with Kevin Carter and Mike Barber that will help me fly better and safer. Jim Lamb was living on the edge by letting me fly the best day of the meet on his new ATOS VQ. Light, fast, best sink rate and lands like a dream. Thanks Jim, now I got to go back to work.

The Tree Toppers have the formula for the best learning experience for all new pilots to learn how to fly XC safely. Ollie Gregory is the best supporter of hang gliding I know. Thanks for all your hard work.

Cathi Hayes aka IdreamOfFlying here.This was my first trip to the Team Challenge and it exceeded my expectations. I am a Hang 2 pilot that attended as a supporter and driver…hoping to get a little foot launch experience and learn as much as I could from others. The last day of the meet was unforgettable…I had the opportunity to foot launch at Whitwell tandem with Clark Harlow.

We launched at about 1:30 pm EST and flew for over and hour and a half! We did not have a vario and my camera’s SD card filled up with video and stopped, so we don’t have an exact time on the flight.

The conditions were awesome!!!! Every time we thought we would have to pick a landing site, another thermal would come greet us with sweet lift. How could we resist so much lift? We finally spiraled down to land since I was the designated driver…oops! for the Pig Sticker’s today.

Thank you to Clark for the great thermaling lesson!!!! Everyone that participated in the Team Challenge did an awesome job! Everyone was friendly and eager to help other pilots learn. A huge thanks goes to Ollie for all of his hard work! Team Challenge will be on my calendar next year.

Richard Milla, North Texas Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association (Fort Worth TX, via London, England) here. TTT TC 2007 rocks! First time. What a fantastic event. So much experience to learn from here and the most wonderful willingness to share it all, it’s amazing. I even learnt how to get my tip wands in and out easily – thanks to Air Hogs Keith and Steve for that. Mega thanks to Kevin Carter for tuning my glider. 6.5 miles worth of tuning today – my first XC in a hang glider! You the man, Kevin; big thanks also to Wills Wing and Flytec for helping Kevin so he can help the rest of us. And huge, huge thank you to all the volunteers, especially Doc Ollie. If you wanna improve your flying, come to TTT TC 2008.

Barron McKinley. Arkansas Air Hogs. here. TTT Team Challenge 2007. What a great vacation! This has been my greatest Hang Gliding vacation of all time. 5 out of 7 flying days. Awesome weather. All down time was spent learning about XC, thermaling, weather, and safety. Great food and great camaraderie. Thanks to the Tennessee Tree Toppers for putting on such an excellent event, and a special thanks to Ollie Gregory.

What a great day to end a fantastic week of fun and learning at this year’s team challenge! Mark Stump is my friend and a friend to everyone who knows him. He escorted me on my first XC attempt and cut the apron strings to known LZ’s when I wasn’t looking. If he’d had a tow rope he’d have pulled me across the gap to goal. Kevin Carter tuned my U2 and transformed it from a Sherman tank to a Ferrari with power steering. Special thanks go to my friend Ollie Gregory for making this meet such a success. Keith Atkins, Memphis, Arkansas Air Hogs

Great air Great valley Great times Clark Harlow transplanted Floridian

What an awesome event! As a C pilot, and a new H3 I have learned so much in such a short time from some of the best! And I have increased my flight time by ¼ in just a week, and got my first XC flight, got to cloudbase for the first time, and soared the highest I ever have! A lot of personal bests!!! Met knew friends and became closer to those I already knew, I am looking forward to next year. Some highlights on the Pigsticker’s team was Eric Donaldson being the only kingposted glider making goal today, and the only other flex making it was a topless. Way to go Eric! Tuesday our team (Pigstickers) worked flawlessly together, staying in sight and radio contact, helping each other out, it was like no other kind of flying I’ve done – fun flying as a team. I hope every one pencils in next years Team Challenge, what a great event, loved flying with everyone. Big THANKS to Ollie! Pigsticker: Lucas Ridley Lucas is going to put a great video of his team together on Youtube soon.

TTT knows how to lead one great comp. I don’t know anyone that did not have fun. My team had pilots from all over – Virginia, Tennessee, Illinois, and Puerto Rico. There is no better way to get airtime, and learn from some of the best pilots in the world. What would be really great is to see similar events all over the country. This keeps interest and participation in the sport high, and is great for spectators. With the multiplication factor based on skill level and wing type, and a bonus for A pilots escorting beginners to goal, everyone has the chance to be a contributing member to their team. If you missed it this year, sign up early next year! It’s an event that should not be missed. Craig Stanley, Romantic Sheep BAAAA!e

ONE MORE ACCOUNT from just another monkey in the everyday: After six years of lump jumpin throughout Ohio, this northern fella came to this valley about 1980 to repair an old triangle wing (standard regallo) and was told “you can’t fly that thing here”. Little did I know what was in store for me. I was welcomed by most everyone in the area, given everything I needed to become an actual flying man! 10 or 12 years later I got the “LAZY” attitude for the string tow, thus leaving the mtn. Been doing it for the past 20+ years. Static, A-TOL, Trike, Tug, Scooter, and even light trike. You name it. I heard that there was going to be a XC talent based format at the Tree Topper site and could not, NOT! Make this scene. I have never in 33+ years of trying to pilot a hang glider had so much help to do just that. Though the team I was placed on did the point making, I was drug along with them to first place despite my poor performances. If you EVER wanted to do an XC flight….Think TTT!!!.......”TEAM CHALLENGE” They will get you there! Forget the BLUNDERING, start the MILES!! Primavera

In my 30+ years of flying and flying competitions, I have never witnessed a meet with more pilot involvement and cooperation. The interaction between team members as well as teams was nothing short of amazing. All of this in conjunction with fully attended informative seminars created a FUN learning experience. What a Concept! Way to go TTT. Mike Nash

It’s Ollie again at Team Challenge day after report. I’m little hang over after the great party! The most impressive thing I saw everyday, all week long was a willingness to help out, fix it, teach it and show you how to do it by all the pilots and volunteers. Right now the day after it ended, two of our super volunteers are helping me with all kinds of computer tricks. This would never have happened with out Alain and Candice Azurmendi! Thanks so much!

Here’s butt one more example of Stump helping some one out! He’s putting wire man hold downs on Jim Lamb’s VQ on the first day of the meet. Lamb paid him back a week later with a VQ flight on the best flying day of the meet. Now Stump’s gonna have to get a job! ARKANSAS AIR HOGS!!! What a great group of guys!

If you want to see some youtube of this great event here’s a great link

Team Challenge 2007 Whitwell, TN http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leVLCY7fGik

Super C Lucas Ridley is planning to put a video of the Pig Stickers team flying XC on Youtube soon. I gotta stop writing and head home soon. Thanks Jackie for loving me and being so wonderful!

Oh Yeah! How did it all turn out? Who got what? Thanks WW and Rob Kells, Moyes USA and Kraig Coomber, LMFP and Matt Taber, North Wing, AIR USA and Jim Lamb, Ben DeGaris, and of course Flytec and the most generous man in hang gliding Steve Kroop for all the great stuff we got to pass out to the happy pilots. Jim Lamb donated a great GPS that went to our newcomer, and most talented C pilot Lucas Ridley of Lookout!

Our winners: In seventh place were the Leaky Radiators led by Jeff Laughery and Ben DeGaris as the A pilot mentors. On their team were Kelly Scroggins-C, Richard Milla-C and Tim Rhinesmith C.

The Arkansas Air Hogs took sixth place with A+ mentor Mark Stump and A pilot Barron McKinley at the helm. Walter Jordan-B was voted Most Helpful B Pilot. Steve Prater-C got his first XC. Keith Atkins-C was voted Most Helpful C Pilot. Their driver, Colin Hodsdon was given his Hang Driver 3 rating by Wayne Walker this week.

In fifth place were KC and the Sunshine Bandits lead by super-duper A++++ leader and mentor Kevin Carter. He led Keith Smith-B, Kevin Dawkins-C, and John Small-C.

Fourth place was taken by the Romantic Sheep, led by A pilot Marc Fink on the Attack Falcon. He was assisted by A pilot Bruce Engen who helped mentor the team of Dan Tomlinson-C, Craig Stanley-C and Edwin Ayala-C (from Puerto Rico!)

In third place were the Pig Stickers and Topless Dancer, led by Most Helpful A Pilot Eric Donaldson, who out flew every flexwing pilot except Kevin Carter. Eric is flying an old pink Airwave Concept with a right hand turn! He and Peter Kane-A lead their Pig Sticker buddies Alex Holstead-B, Lucas Ridley-C. They were chased by Hang 5 Driver Wayne Walker, the world’s most coveted hang gliding retrieval specialist.

Second place was taken by the E Team. A pilots Dave Hopkins and Stan Roberts battled it out all week for top dog and did an outstanding job of leading their C pilots Lindsey Chew, Bill Estes and Bryon Estes, the comp’s only father and son team.

And in first place by only a few points were the T-51’s lead by Jim Lamb of AIR USA and importer of the ATOS line. Jim was the team’s A+ pilot. Jim and Steve Larson-A, they lead and mentored their team of Tom Primavera-B and Jeff Nibler-C to victory by just 3 points! Shoulda done one more reflight Lindsey!

This was great fun. We’ll do it again next year! Ollie

2007 Team Challenge

October 4, 2007, 2:26:48 pm PDT

Team Challenge

Teams, teams, teams.

Craig Stanley|Dave Hopkins|Jim Lamb|Keith Atkins|Kevin Carter|Lucas Ridley|Mark Stump|Mike Barber|Oliver Gregory|Steve Lee|Steve Prater|Tennessee Tree Toppers|Tennessee Tree Toppers Team Challenge 2007|video|weather

oliver gregory «olliettt1955» writes:

I have an new respect for what it takes to get this stuff out after a long day. I'm tired but very pleased and happy to be involved with such an incredible bunch of volunteers and pilots. I have a few things attached and hope you can link them in. Jeff Nibbler has a C pilots report on yesterday with some pictures. Lucas Ridley has a YouTube video of his first ever XC where he made it to goal with his buddies helping him along and caught a quarry dust cloud explosion!

Sure are having fun here! It is impressive how smoothly things are going. We have a bunch of nice people all having a fun time and helping each other out. The seminars here have been truly exceptional with Mike Barber and Kevin Carter teaching our eager Cs, Bs and A pilots as much as they can absorb every evening.

We have a neat format with every team supplying task and safety committee members. Glider performance, pilot experience and number of team members are all weighted to keep the emphasis on A pilots helping the Bs and Cs get to goal. Local pilots just give the task guys the weather forecast, and suggest fun options to run. After a little discussion they choose what they want to do for a task and everyone gets going. It's been fun with good weather the first 3 days. See the Jeff Nibbler's report attached about day 3's task.

Today, day 4, we had an incredible Blipper forecast, but we saw lots of clouds to our south that looked like it could move to us and sure enough it did. We had a cloud deck with a few tiny holes move over us. Launch conditions were sweet, but it sure didn't look like a soaring day. Terry Presley (T2), Mike Barber (Litespeed S), Alain "Frenchie" Azurmendi (Talon) and Steve Lee on the VR were our super wind technicians. They proved it was soarable with a little ridge lift and soft thermals blowing through. Several teams got someone off with the E-Team launching their entire team, Kevin Carter launched with some of his guys and other teams sent a few competitors. The Cs and Bs that launched were smooth and generally making good decisions, but pilots that didn't hop on every opportunity to climb above the ridge in the light thermals were soon in the Whitwell LZ. Bryon Estes (E-Team) on an antique Ram Air made it out a few miles to score some XC points!

It was light conditions, but the lift was soft and friendly. We had sweet launch winds all day. Sure looked like fun till the cloud deck started dropping a patch of drizzle here and there. Mike, Terry and Steve went out to land at the Church LZ not wanting to land out and get wet, but wiley old Jim Lamb on that new beautiful VQ, wiley old Dave Hopkins on my first old ATOS, Stan Roberts on the Phantom, and Kevin Carter on the T2 hung on and moved away from the Whitwell launch area. There were very few holes in the cloud deck, but it was obvious that the deck was generally thin with only had a few scattered areas dropping the light drizzle. Unfortunately a couple of spots with the moist stuff lined up on launch and forced a lot of pilots to wait.

We have such a helpful group of pilots. While the little drizzle line moved through, Steve Larson noticed a problem with one launch assist loop on his Exxtacy. Mark Stump and a few others jumped on it and had a new system set up quickly. Steve finally launched ahead of the next line of drizzle and made it out 6 miles to land just past the Gaps to the north of Whitwell. There were more little wet patches scattered around here and there.

It seemed like it was all over, but it was better than it looked! We were all watching for a sign but it was almost completely overcast. However we heard from some of the big dogs on course that it was light and smooth, but doable. Eric Donaldson an A pilot on the Pig Sticker Team flying an old Concept got his guys motivated, and sure enough a few swallows started climbing right in front of launch. Eric, Alex Holsted (B) on an S2, Peter Kane (A) on his T2 and Lucas Ridley (C) on an UltraSport launched into some super smooth, super light air. Peter chose a little different line and ended up at the church LZ. Lucas missed a bump and had to leave his brothers and land at the church LZ. We all gazed in amazement as Eric and Alex flew smooth circle after smooth circle and moved very slowly down the ridge and out of sight. Sure looked like fun! Kinda looked like magic! Alex was really getting everything possible out of the S2, "I had the VG all the way on and heard the vario beep now and then, but it was the smoothest lift I've ever flown in!" Eric got only 4.6 miles out, but no one on launch (except maybe me!) Thought anything but a sledder was possible. Alex was milking everything and made it out 8.2 miles for a great score!

Meanwhile, the A pilot leaders who had survived long enough to watch their Bs and Cs land were moving on toward the first turnpoint to the north 11.5 miles away. Dave Hopkins landed at 7.5 miles. Stan Roberts on the Phantom landed at 9.6 miles. Kevin Carter was running with Jim Lamb with the VQ. Jim was a little higher and sitting pretty. Kevin said, "He took me along till the gaps, then left me in nursery school!" Kevin had a great flight and landed at 10.8 miles.

Jim was able to get out and ahead of the cloud deck. A few miles past the gaps he found some less shady and eventually partly sunny sky and nice lift in the 200 to 400 fpm range. He made it to Sandifer's field for a great flight of 33.6 miles. The day was over called by the task committee with goal for A's to come back from Sandifer's to Dunlap. Jim decided to land at Sandifer's rather than go back under the cloud deck. This was the B pilot goal called this morning when Dr Jack was making everyone think the day was gonna be incredible.

It was an incredibly fun day at the TTT Team Challenge!

Tonight we've enjoyed another great talk from Mike Barber. Kevin and Mike along with our local experts have been so generously sharing their knowledge! Incredible stuff every day so far!

After 4 fun days, here's how it stands. The Air Hogs from AR are in first place in the how much fun and how much can I help my buddies competition! Soooiee!!!

With the weighting for their 4 member team helping them, the T-51 team led by Jim Lamb and his super C pilot Jeff Nibbler are in first place! They've had only 3 pilots on day one and 4 pilots since then. We've tried to prorate for teams with fewer pilots which in some ways favor the smaller teams with a hot shot A+ pilot and a solid C pilot.

The second place E-Team has been flying well with As getting good scores on the first couple of days and Super C Byron Estes scoring every day. Their As were holding their own today.

Third place is the "Pig Sticker" team from Lookout. They are all king posted except Peter Kane on his T2. I don't think they have anything against the Air Hogs! . With only 4 pilots and super C Lucas Ridley kicking butt the prorating seems to be helping them too!

Forth place team is the Romantic Sheep lead by Mark Fink and his super C Craig Stanley.

In fifth place are the Leaky Radiators led by local Jeff Laughery on his Talon and Ben DeGaris on his Litespeed.

In sixth place are my favorite team the Arkansas Air Hogs. Mark Stump and Barron McKinley are helping Walter Jordan (B Pilot), Keith Atkins (C) and Steve Prater (C) get XC experience. Walter had his longest flight yesterday, flying 13.6 miles to GOAL!!! The day before the entire Air Hog team and their driver Colin Hodsdon helped a local land owner put out a big grass fire resulting in everlasting good will for the Tree Toppers!

In seventh place is the KC and The Sunshine Bandits team. Kevin Carter is the hardest working A+ pilot here for sure. I hear report after report of how he's trying his best to help his guys, but they have had some bad luck even though Kevin had done his best. After his team mates have flared, he's run on for solid scores.

Here's a report on day 3 from Jeff Nibler. Jeff is one of the C's in the meet. He's on Jim Lamb's team and doing very well. Very bright young man.

Day 5 is a rain day with light sprinkles mostly and a nice shower now and then. We've had so many clinics and talks, it is like going to soaring college!

[IMAGE]

Tuesday, Day 3 by Jeff Nibler

The wind was forecasted to be less than Monday which was a good thing; about 6-8 knots from the East and the lift about 450fpm. The Skew-Ts showed a substantial inversion at about 4k and that seemed to be accurate from what I experienced during my flight. The task called was 13.6 miles for both the B and C pilots. This was due to the lack of available "officially designated" Lzs in the down-wind direction so the first available was chosen. "Officially designated" simply means the club has received specific, recent permission for a large number of pilots to land there. Aside from the official Lzs, many fields dot the valley making landing out generally very easy. The A-pilots had to fly over the B and C goal then fly back to land at the LZ below launch in Whitwell.

Pilots launched a little earlier today, the first in the air at about 12:15. Two out of the first five got up to the right (down wind) and the other three sunk out to the Castle LZ. From what I saw, nothing was working right out in front of the launch; pilots had to glide a long way to the right before they seemed to hit the first spot that was working. The rigids seemed to have the easiest time, arriving in the lift with decent altitude. Some other pilots tried to reach it but failed as the spot was cycling and not always on. There was no ridge lift today due to the crossed wind direction so if you didn't get up in a thermal, you couldn't rely on the ridge lift to buy you time.

I backed away from launch twice thinking I wouldn't be able to make it to the lift with enough altitude to work. Finally a thermal cycle came right through launch. I got back in line behind Richard Milla from Fort Worth Texas. I watched him launch, shoot up into the lift, then head to the right. The thermal was too close to the ridge to circle, but hopefully it would be enough to stretch out my glide to the working portion of the ridge. I launched seconds later and headed for the gaggle. Along the way I hit a few small bumps and some zero sink, but thankfully no huge areas of sink. By the time I made it to the active thermal, I was just below ridge level.

Three or four of us worked that thermal to about 1k over launch. At this point the inversion was obvious…. A thick brown haze on the horizon. I never broke through it and it seemed only a few other pilots were able to. Steve Larson was my escort, flying an Exxtacy. Because he is on the safety committee, he was required to launch last on our team. Steve caught up to me in this first thermal and we climbed together to the inversion.

Most of the pilots seemed to hang around the lift at the bottom of the inversion, possibly hoping to break through it. Since the lift had given up on me at the inversion and since I didn't have clear radio communication with Steve, I decided to go on glide at only ~1200 over. As I looked back, I saw at least eight gliders gaggled at lift I left behind.

This was my first real XC so I spent most of my glide time eyeing the fields trying to determine the best and safest LZ, and the rest of my time looking out for other gliders thermaling ahead of me. A few minutes later, I saw a topless and a rigid pass me from above. I recognized the rigid as my team-mate Steve Larson. He must have seen me go on glide and wanted to continue escorting me toward goal. Up ahead, just past the next gap, I saw two gliders carving hard and going up incredibly fast. Steve and the topless ahead of me made it and joined him, but I got there too low and too late. It looked like it was all over for me so I turned out to the valley, unzipped and started my approach over a nice looking field. I luckily hooked a nice tight thermal 500' over this field and rode it back to ridge level, then lost it and found another closer in to the ridge. That took me to 2k over the ridge. By this time Steve assumed I landed out so he had pushed on. I was on my own, though I did notice a yellow and white topless circling above me. I later found out this was Jeff Laughery.

I continued on, climbing and going on glide several more times without getting below ridge level. During my fourth climb, I could see what appeared to be the goal. I was using a GPS and radio generously loaned to me by my team-mate Tom Primavera from Ohio. I wasn't used to the GPS so about all I could tell from it was that I was nearing goal. The description given of the goal matched what I saw so when I hit the inversion again, I pointed out toward the valley and went on final. As I neared the field, I saw one glider on the ground and another on approach so I knew I'd made it.

After an almost eventful landing (eight feet off the ground, a thermal moving through the LZ kicked my right wing up quite a ways), I joined Eric Donaldson and Lindsey Chew in the LZ. Shortly after I landed, Lucas Ridley landed as well. Two C-pilots achieved their first XC today, Lucas Ridley and myself; making goal made it all the sweeter. My total air-time was one hour and twenty two minutes. Two other C pilots made goal today including Bryon Estes and Lindsey Chew, both from Ellenville NY. All the commotion in the LZ was too much for the locals; a couple of friendly law enforcement officers showed up along with a local news crew who interviewed a few of the pilots.

Kevin Carter impressed quite a few people by repeatedly sacrificing a ton of altitude to dive down and help the B and C pilots on his team who were struggling down low.

At 8pm, we gathered back at Henson's to discuss the day's events. Topics included how accurate the forecast was, what tactics worked and what did not, as well as a play-by-play of Kevin Carter's flight log projected up on a screen and some comments from other pilots. Dr Jack's forecast ended up being just about spot-on. After the talk, pilots gathered to share stories and the B and C pilots hounded the A pilots for tips and tricks. I have probably learned more in one day here than I have in six months of recreational flying. The information and feedback you receive about the day and your flight from the A and B pilots is invaluable to making you a better pilot.

Team Challenge Update

September 15, 2007, 3:51:13 pm MDT

Team Challenge

It's full

Jim Lamb|Kevin Carter|Lookout Mountain Flight Park|Mark Stump|Mike Barber|Oliver Gregory|Tennessee Tree Toppers|video|weather

oliver gregory «olliettt1955» writes:

Here's a final update on the Team Challenge. Right now it looks like we're going to have a very big turnout and are declaring the Team Challenge full. If you haven't registered yet, come anyway! We need volunteers! The Tree Toppers welcome visiting pilots to free fly before and after the launch window and join in the great learning experience as volunteers and landing clinic members. This year's Team Challenge should be one of the best ever for pilots hoping to learn about XC flying.

Our clinics and talks are going to be exceptional! Kevin Carter will give excellent landing clinic talks with video enhanced learning as many evenings as soaring conditions will allow. Mike Barber plans to help out with talks on XC and thermal soaring. Mark Stump will give a great talk on how to have the most fun safely. I'll help out with a practical "how to" weather seminar on forecasting soaring conditions. Anyone can participate in the landing clinic for the low cost of $25. We hope to have 2 or 3 video landing reviews during the course of the week and as many clinic flights as possible to provide video fodder for the clinics.

World team pilot and AIR importer Jim Lamb is coming this year! He's bringing the 2008 line of AIR gliders for all to drool over! Jim is showing off the the AIR lineup including the new, quick setup, light weight VQ, a high performance rigid wing designed for the advanced recreational XC pilot. Jim will have the VQ, VR and VX at Lookout Mountain Flight Park Friday 9/28 and Saturday 9/29. Go take a look at the best. Jim is going to join us for the Team Challenge and participate as one of our team leaders.

Camp out and enjoy the party! The Sequatchie has beautiful weather this time of the year with leaves just starting to change. However, the leaves may turn early since it has been so dry for so long. We'll probably have some cool nights, so everyone should bring warm clothes for the evenings and shorts for the hot days. With the high cloud bases we've had lately, pilots should plan to dress warm for cloud base flying. The end of the meet party is also our Oktoberfest Party with food, fun beverages, a live band and the awards ceremony for Team Challenge!

You can review recently updated information on the TTT site at www.treetoppers.org The Tree Toppers look forward to seeing our old friends and meeting all the new members of our great organization. There will be lots of fun flying in the Sequatchie Valley and maybe beyond! See y'all soon!

ATOS leading edge molds

April 16, 2007, 1:34:30 pm EDT

ATOS

Fire

Jim Lamb|Ron Gleason

The link is here.

This is from the link:

Fire in the boat shop next to the molds for the Silent fuselage and ATOS leading edge molds. Molds destroyed. I believe the Silent fuse is used in the APIS too.

Jim Lamb has asked Felix about this issue. Thanks to Danny Brotto, Ron Gleason and others who reported this issue to me.

Discuss ATOS at the Oz Report forum

ATOS in the USA

Jim Lamb brings us up to date.

ATOS

November 14, 2006, 8:40:44 PST

A.I.R. ATOS VR|James Lamb|Jim Lamb|Paul Tjaden

James Lamb «jlamb» writes:

I sold a used ATOS VX in New York at Marty B’s (Paul Tjaden's) and have at least  three guys around the US who would like to have used VX’s. I also have Russell’s used ATOS VR and your’s for sale. The used VR’s I’ve sold have been in the $12-13,000 range. My inventory includes a new VR and a new VX so that we can deliver gliders with no wait! There are various people around considering rigids, but I suspect it will be spring before we see much activity.

Matt Tabor has committed to becoming a dealer and having a VX demo available, as has Malcolm. I went to Tennessee for Matt’s 30 year celebration. It was very well attended and he was wonderfully gracious. His new radial ramp is a tremendous addition to the park.

My recovery is complete with just a little remaining stiffness in my neck that is slowly working out. You might not even notice.

Jim Rooney »

June 3, 2006, 10:31:57 EDT

Jim

Walk and talking, but not running

Bo Hagewood|Highland Aerosports Flight Park|Jim Lamb|Jim Rooney|video

Jim's back at Highland Aerosports from New Zealand after his stay in the hospital there after not hooking in when he was doing a tandem at Queenstown and falling fifty feet after the glider smacked into power lines (the passenger was okay with minor burns). There is lots of material on Jim in the Oz Report and on the Oz Report forum. Do a little searching if you want to check it out.

I've put a video of Jim's crash (he spent the thirteen seconds of the flight trying to climb up into the control frame) up on the Oz Report Radio web server and it should be available soon.

Jim seems like a reasonable representation of himself here, no longer walking with a cane. Sure makes you feel good about the human body's capability to be repaired and repair itself. Bo Hagewood is another example of this - he is doing much much better. Makes me feel that Jim Lamb will come back better than ever.

Jim Lamb update

May 29, 2006, 11:05:06 EDT

Jim Lamb

Doing well.

Jim Lamb|Quest Air

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=15688#15688

Discuss Jim Lamb at the Oz Report forum

Worlds - Task 6/Day 8 »

May 25, 2006, 9:58:48 pm EDT

Worlds

Plays with cu-nimbs

David Glover|Jim Lamb|Quest Air

The results

The rigid wing task and flight on the HOLC. The rigid task and flight on Google Maps/Earth or better yet here.

We called an out and return task to Dallas, 67 miles, as the forecast is very iffy. The midlevel clouds were going away but the forecast for lift at 5 PM was for cloud base at 1,400' and 200 fpm. Does that mean clouds coming in from the Gulf or over development? The FSL doesn't show any over development.

The midlevel clouds dried out over the morning and it wasall blue by noon. There were a few cu's way off to the west and as it approached 12:30 we could see the cu's start to tower. The Swifts were off at 12:45 and the rigids at 1 PM.

By the time we were in the air there was a a full scale cu-nimb fifteen miles to the east. We could see the rain coming down south of Center Hill. But that was the only trouble spot as the rest of the sky looked great both near us and to the north. I was beginning to wonder if we would have problems coming back toward goal at Quest.

We spent the next hour thermaling just five miles northwest of Quest and getting ready for the first start time. Everyone was going to go as soon as possible. The cu-nimb got a little bigger and a little closer but it still seemed safe. Finally we were released at our 1 PM start time and most of us headed northwest right into the dark clouds.

Brother the lift was good out in front of the clouds near Center Hill. The cu-nimb had grown further to the north. The air was rough, but once you got in a thermal over the shaded ground it was 900 fpm smooth to 6,000'. You had to pull out early just to escape the clouds.

We raced north northwest just on the edge of the clouds with a 5 to 10 mph west wind all the way to Dallas the turnpoint, 33 miles to the north northwest, but the problem was that we could see behind us there was nothing but rain. We would have to go way around to the east to get around the rain and home again.

David Glover was on the various radio frequencies listening and talking to the pilots. He had already stopped the Swift and women's task. Fifty two minutes into the rigid wing task he stopped our task. The day wouldn't count as an hour of task time was required to make the day valid.

As soon as we heard that the task was stopped we raced to get away from the rain and clouds. Jim Lamb mentioned on the radio the sand being blown by winds from the storm (gust fronts) to our southeast at the Villages. I was right over the Villages at this point, immediately turned ninety degrees and ran northeast to get away from any winds. I landed with no winds east of highway 27. Andrea Hetzel saw where I landed and came to join me to be safe, but came down in the very minor gust front that we had. We had a little bit of rain then also but it was not big deal.

Other pilots had more windows and rain then we did, especially Jim Lamb. I thought that we would be running with me, but instead he landed further to the east but to the south closer to where he saw the sand being picked up.

He got dumped in the gust front from fifteen feet while attempting to land at a small grass air strip near Leesburg. While there was only minor damage to his new ATOS, he cracked both wrists, and broke his C1 vertebrae. He'll be in a halo for two to four months. He was conscious after landing, but not making any sense.

Flying on this day was easier than on any day that I flew at Greifenberg in the last Worlds. Andrea could not understand that. The air here on this day was smoother and the thermals much smoother. It was quite rough for Florida, but the thermals were so nice.

Worlds - Task/Day 4 »

May 21, 2006, 9:46:30 pm EDT

Worlds

Cirrus and convergence

Corinna Schwiegershausen|Dr. John "Jack" Glendening|Jim Lamb|Jim Yocom|Manfred Ruhmer|Quest Air|Ron Gleason|Russell "Russ" Brown|weather

The results

The rigid wing task and flight (Ron Gleason's) on the HOLC. The rigid task and flight on Google Maps/Earth or better yet here.

Dr. Jack, using the weather services RUC model, called for very significant sea breeze convergence on Sunday way to our east over Orlando and to our west over the Green Swamp. There weren't supposed to be any clouds, but the lift was forecasted to be 600+ fpm, and the top of the lift at 8,800' at 5 PM with light winds.

Given this positive outlook (other than the lack of clouds) we called a 98 mile triangle task for the rigids, 137 mile one for the Swifts, and a 66 mile out and return for the women. What the forecast didn't predict was all the cirrus coming from a trough over the western Gulf of Mexico (the NWS in Tampa talked about it later after the fact).

With no clouds in the sky it is hard to get pilots all that excited about launching. The women's task committee had already called for a later launch for themselves. Still we got the Swifts off at noon and the rigids got going at 12:15 only to find weak lift and a top of the lift under 4,000'. There was an obvious thick inversion.

For the next hour and a half we struggled. The gaggles got so bad that I flew back to Quest Air from a few miles out thinking about landing and then getting pulled up again in time for the second start clock (as no one wants to go with the first one). But I found 500 fpm and climbed to 3,500'.

Not wanting to get back into the clusterf..k, I flew south toward the gaggles, but stopped and climb with one other pilot. There were now three gaggles to the south near the start circle circumference and I headed toward the one with the least pilots and furthest away.

Before I got there I found 400 fpm, and flashed my wings as I put it up on tip in this tiny core. I wanted to get high and out of the way in the hurry. It worked and since it took the other pilots a couple of turns to figure out that this was the best lift they would have seen in the last hour, I was able to stay on top and out of their way. I would live to fly again. It has been that bad.

The start window opened and we headed south toward the intersection south of Haines City. I was following a couple of pilots and we found a couple of thermals to climb in within the first six miles, but at six miles out the lead pilot found a boomer and we climbed to 5,500' at 600 fpm, higher and faster than we had been so far. It felt like a switch had been turned on and the day was now ready for us.

We shot out of the top of that thermal with two lead pilots in front and me and David Chaumet side by side at the same level and gliding fast. There were twenty pilots behind us. I was ready to fly fast and turn hard in the next strong thermal.

It was a six mile glide to the north end of Brown Shin road with no lift and now we were groveling at 2,200' and climbing at 130 fpm. Meanwhile David had shaded to the right a bit and found lift behind us. Hubris had taken over my brain (what, is thing for rent?), and now was paying the dues I have paid so often. Essentially the race was over for me (David Chaumet won the day). I was able to hold on and get on for a while, but to no avail.

Jim Yocom, Jim Lamb, and Ron Gleason were able to make it back to Quest with about thirty other rigid wing pilots. Russell Brown landed near the last turnpoint at the Turnpike and highway 33. He landed at a private airport and they went there later and towed him out.

The German team found the convergence on the way north of the turnpoint south of the Green Swamp over the Green Swamp. Ralf reported getting 6-7 m/s in very smooth air flying straight. They were very excited.

The highest reported altitude was in fact 8,800' and we had plenty of climbs higher than the predicted 450 fpm. But the cirrus did come over our flying area and made for interesting conditions. It put me down, but others (perhaps also in the convergence) noticed that they were going up when they shouldn't have been. Yocom got to 8,400'.

The women had a tougher time of it with no convergence (or at least no reports of convergence) and a lot of cirrus that made their much shorter task a lot more interesting than Kari felt it would be. Natalia Khamlova won the day, with Francoise, followed by Corinna and Kari. They were the only ones to make goal.

All the Swifts made the task other than Mark Mullholland with Manfred winning the day.

Worlds - Task/Day 3 »

May 20, 2006, 9:16:36 pm EDT

Worlds

Ring around the Green Swamp.

Corinna Schwiegershausen|Jim Lamb|Kari Castle|Manfred Ruhmer|Quest Air|Ron Gleason|Russell "Russ" Brown

The results

The rigid wing task and flight on the HOLC. The rigid task and flight on Google Maps/Earth or better yet here.

Kari Castle (who is blogging at http://karicastle.com/blog/index.php) was first in today for the women quickly followed by Corinna the follower (covering Kari). They turned out to be the only women to make goal.

All the Swifts made it back in even though they had a longer (109 mile) task then the day before. The winds were a lot lighter and there were no cirrus, and every now and then there was a wispy cu. Manfred won the day.

The task for the rigids was 94 miles and like the other two classes it was around the Green Swamp, but each class had different turnpoints so that and their different start times kept them separated. Given the forecast for strong lift (600+ fpm), light west winds (didn't always work out that way), high cloud base (some pilots did get to 7,300'), maybe a few clouds, and convergence over the Green Swamp, and no sea breeze (at least that was my interpretation) we felt it would be the best day so far this spring. The only issue would be the relative lack of clouds.

The height of the lift was predicted to be lower earlier in the day and higher at 2 PM than the previous days. The cu's were just beginning to form when we launched the Swifts at noon. It was great to see them all together not too high right over the field slowly climbing. This apparently was enough of an incentive to get the women launched pretty much in their fifteen minute slot.

We relaxed the time interval a bit between the two start times for the rigids separating them by only twenty minutes instead of thirty minutes. We were trying to find the happy medium where pilots actively take the first start time believing that they can get the meager leading bonus points without getting caught. If they feel that they will be caught by the guys behind, then everyone goes at the second start time. We may not have reached that happy medium yet.

With better lift and a lighter west winds we have a lot better time of it working upwind to Bay Lake almost five miles out, the edge of the start circle. At 4,300' just before the first start time it looks like we'll be taking the second start time. Cloud base is 5,500'. Half the rigids are out there seeing if they'll head out.

We scoot back just as the start window opens to find 600 fpm to 5,500' half a mile inside the start circle. Our new altitude is enough to encourage us to get going now so thirty pilots head out pretty much together (but not Robert Reisinger). Now there is only a fifteen minute separation.

Most of the pilots head directly right over the Green Swamp toward the turnpoint at Dean Still and Rockridge, but I notice a pilot turning tight under a cloud to the left of the course line a mile to the south (also over the swamp) and head for him with Russell Brown in tow. The lift is 600 fpm to cloud base.

The leaders get low and we come in high at the next thermal four miles northeast of the first turnpoint. We scoot over to the turnpoint and join the thermal just past it. I find a really good core at 700 fpm and soon we are on top with all those who were ahead of us.

Next it's a run to the west and I'll hang just behind (or just below) the four leading pilots with five pilots just behind me.

It's a head wind of about 5 mph, but we make Clinton pretty easily with a spare wispy cu or two, but mostly in the blue. I get see the guys in front have turned back to the northwest after getting the turnpoint and head for the Green Swamp once again. That's where there are a few cu's as there are none out over the cultivated area to the west along the highways.

We climb slowly just before the Swamp to 5,000' then jump right into it to the north racing from cloud to cloud but stopping for lift in the blue if it is there. I've never been this far into the Green Swamp in this area. On previously flights we would be to the west, but without clouds we went where it looked best.

Just before we get to highway 50 and the north end of the swamp I notice Robert Reisinger just below me and I'm thinking that he took the second start time. He really pours on the speed for the glide and gets to the next thermal before me and I don't see him again.

I lose the four pilots (now five with Robert) just before Coleman when I get some weak lift. I join up with the four guys behind me who have actually joined up with me. We climb to 6,000' 6 miles out from Coleman and and race to get around the turnpoint and to the gliders circling just past it.

I spot Primoz to the southeast banked up high and go to him but the lift isn't that great. Primoz seems to have a habit of banking high but not having great lift. I keep it a little flatter and climb to 4,500' as my compatriots head out and keep getting lower south of the Turnpike as we head for the intersection of the Turnpike and highway 33.

After a spell of no cu's there are plenty of wispy ones all along the Turnpike and things look good ahead. I race along and come in over the pilots who were in front of me after getting up and geez they are just holding on in zero sink. There are plenty of clouds ahead and dark fields, so I say screw that, and head for better lift.

I find some but am not impressed and head for the next cloud and the best looking field. Oh, oh, no lift. Now I'm in trouble, below 2,000' and falling. In one last desperate attempt I head just to the Turnpike at the edge of the field I'm over that has been so disappointing and find zero sink. I hold on. I'm at less than 800'.

For the next twenty six minutes I will drift downwind past the turnpoint for almost four miles below 1,200' AGL. I'll continuously turn in zero sink and then slowly climb over fields, high tension power lines, housing developments, and golf courses. I can see two or three miles to the east of me a cleared area where they are going to put in houses and wonder if I will make it there and find better (any) lift there. I try to concentrate on the present and not worry about what happens when and if I get to a better spot.

The middle horizontal line is 1000' MSL. The top line is 1,500' MSL. You can see the land level in brown.

It is great fun to be low and not falling and just hanging on in weak lift. I try to relax and feel every bit of lift that I can. I have few chances to check around the general area to find better cores.

Finally, I get over the scraped off land and it turns on. I'm now over three miles downwind of the last turnpoint in a thirteen mph wind, but the lift is good. The good guys are already at goal having stayed in the weak lift higher and let it work for them.

I push upwind to get the turnpoint and can see the the wispies downwind of the course line. I figure who cares, you've got to stay up. I head downwind a bit find the lift from the west feeding the wispies and climb to five thousand feet, plenty enough to make it in back to Quest. It's good to be home. Another great day in Florida.

Russell is the first American in. I'm second, Jim Lamb third for the day. Ron Gleason also makes it in. Robert wins the day, Alex is first in nine minutes ahead but he took the first start clock.

Worlds - Task/Day 1 »

May 18, 2006, 9:56:21 pm EDT

Worlds

Get everyone happy by putting them in the sweet Florida air.

Bobby Bailey|Corinna Schwiegershausen|Dragonfly|Jim Lamb|Jim Yocom|Manfred Ruhmer|Quest Air|Robin Hamilton|Ron Gleason|Russell "Russ" Brown

The results

The rigid wing and women's task and flight on the HOLC. Compare with Ron Gleason's much better flight path.  The Swift task and flight on the HOLC. The rigid task and flight on Google Maps/Earth or better yet here.

The wind was again forecasted to be 12 knots out of the west northwest (280 degrees). The forecast for the lift was strong (600+ fpm) with cu's at the top of the thermal columns at 6,000' where the temperatures would be a chilly 44 degrees. Other than the winds it looked like a perfect day.

Given the winds the women decided on a 68 mile task with a cross wind leg to just south of Haines City and then a mostly downwind leg to the River Ranch on highway 60 east of Lake Wales. The proposed landing area (River Ranch) looked very cool so the rigid wing pilots decided to join them.

We sent the Swifts on a longer (77 mile) totally cross wind task all along highway 33 down to the Fantasy of Flight back to the Florida Turnpike and finally putting them back at Quest so that they didn't have to break down. We figured that the wind wouldn't be an issue for them.

The Swifts were staged in the launch box to get them going first, then the women at the front of the staging area with the rigid wings behind. The idea was that the Swifts had fifteen minutes of priority to launch, the women the next fifteen minutes of priority. The rigids couldn't launch until the Swifts and women were launched or one half hour after the start of the Swift launch window, which ever came first.

Finally, we persuaded the Swift pilots to get in the air as their fifteen minutes was about up and the sky was full of cu's. The women were slow to get going (why hang around for an hour in the air, seems to be their complaint), so I was able to be the first rigid to launch bypassing all the women who still hadn't got into the launch line. They still had priority staging so that they could get in the launch line near the front whenever they wanted.

Bobby Bailey towed me up and I'm grateful as it was bumpy coming out of the field and he's skilled and flying a low power Dragonfly which is less likely to throw me around. I pin off in weak lift at 2,000' just upwind of the field and start climbing. Jim Yocom is right behind me and we climb up to 4,600' drifting east in the 13 mph west northwest wind.

The sky is full of 1000' thick cu's with 5,500' cloud bases and they are streeted up just as you would expect. Jim and I press west along the streets to get better lift further upwind, but this doesn't really work out the both times we try it (at least for me). The lift is just too weak and broken up. Still the air feels great.

On the second try after we climb up to 5,500' over highway 33, Jim goes further west and finally gets a slow climb and drifts back to join up with Jim Lamb, Russell Brown, and Ron Gleason over highway 33 five miles south of Quest Air at cloud base just below 6,000'. I'm east of them down at 4,400 when the start window opens at 1:30 PM and we are off to the races.

Of course, the idea was to try to get upwind so that there would be a greater downwind component to the first leg. But now I'm not that high and downwind of the course line. Arnold Nadlinger from Austria is just below me.

I can hear on the radio that the rest of the US team doing well as I head downwind trying to find lift in order to get back in the game. Getting under the darkest clouds to the southeast doesn't help at all so I head for the bare ground to the southeast by the intersection of highway 27 and 474. Just before I get there and down to 1,900' I find 65 fpm and hang on for dear life as I drift way off course.

Seventeen minutes later I'm back in the game at 3,800'. Not the chip leader, but I can play a few hands. With the winds up to 20 mph out of the west I'm jumping from cloud to cloud to the south with strong sink in between the clouds. Still not high so every jump is full of tension.

When I get to some lift under a wispy cloud I run upstream against the strong wind trying to find the best lift in that lift street trying to work back up over 4,000' without any luck. I see Arnold out in front of me to the southwest low turning and head for him. Instead of hooking up with him I continue another quarter mile and get under the next cloud to find better lift. Arnold lands soon after that.

As I get near Wallaby, about 10 miles from the first turnpoint, I hook up with a couple of women pilots and we climb out to over 5,000'. I finally feel that I'm really back in it if behind, and ready to tackle the task. I'll still have to go upwind to get the turnpoint on highway 27.

The cu's are now reachable from a high altitude and I find the good lift just before the turnpoint at the intersection of highway 27 and 544, our only turnpoint. It's great to be near cloud base. I race around the turnpoint and head for the next clouds to the south, south of the course line, but these clouds lie and I have to search under small developing wisps to find the next lift, down to 1,800'.

It started weak, but built and now I was drifting toward goal so I hung on as it goes to 600+ fpm. This looked like the one that would get me high enough to get to goal, 30 miles out. I figured 20 to 1 to goal.

The rest of the task was easy as there are cu's every where and lined up pretty much right to goal. I stopped for a little lift a couple of times, but basically it was a glide to goal from the climb just past the turnpoint.

There are about twelve pilots at goal when I get there, so it wasn't a total loss. I would have been a lot less happier if I had been with Arnold.

Pilots pour in after me and it seems like almost every one makes goal. A few of the women pilots also make goal including the Russians, Corinna and Kari, not in that order. The folks at the resort like us landing there and everything works out fine.

The task was a little short given how easy the last leg was, so we'll probably call a longer task tomorrow. See the results above. All the US rigid wing team members made it.

Robin Hamilton won the Swift task beating Manfred handily. Robin is flying Manfred's carbon fiber pod Swift. Armand was first for the US team (now is that ironic or what?) which is in first place due to the fact that it is the only team with three members. All the Swift pilots made it back to Quest.

Half the women pilots and almost all the rigid wing pilots made it to goal. The fastest time was an hour and a half. The nominal time is 2.5 hours (for the rigids) so the day will be devalued.

World Championship shirts

May 10, 2006, 10:41:23 EDT

Shirts

Not just for old guys

Jim Lamb|Quest Air

These look good on cute girls also. The World Championship shirts are available from Jim Lamb «jlamb». Please contact him to get one. They can be purchased with credit cards or PayPal.



Click on above for higher resolution version.

Discuss Shirts at the Oz Report forum

The Flytec Championships 2006, day 5, task 4

Ring around the Green Swamp

Flytec, day 5

Thu, Apr 20 2006, 9:16:53 pm EDT

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Brett Hazlett|Campbell Bowen|Davis Straub|Flytec Championships 2006|Gary Osoba|Jacques Bott|James Lamb|Jim Lamb|Johann Posch|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kevin Carter|Larry Bunner|Mark Stump|Oleg Bondarchuk|Oliver Gregory|Phill Bloom|photo|Quest Air|Robin Hamilton|Ron Gleason|Russell "Russ" Brown|Timothy Ettridge|weather

Scores

The flight and the task on the HOLC and on Google Earth.

On Wednesday thirty two gliders follow Jonnie here.

We under call the day again, as we thought we would. The forecast calls for cloud base between 6,500' and 7,000' in the afternoon, with sea breeze convergence setting up in the middle of the state. The lift was supposed to average 500-600 fpm.

We decide to go around the Green Swamp as Gary Osoba and the Tampa Bay National Weather Service guys are both calling for sea breeze convergence and Gary says he thinks that it will be west of Quest. The flexies have a 79 mile task and the rigid a 92 mile one. We want to make the tasks long enough to get full validity for the day, which means three hours for the rigids and two and a half for the flex wings.

We send the the rigids right over the Green Swamp to Dean Still and Rockridge intersection, but we are kind to the flexies and have their first turnpoint at Dean Still and highway 33 so that they don't have to cut across the swamp. Our collective next turnpoint is Clinton over the Green Swamp to the west, then thirty miles to the north to the Coleman and then back southeast to Quest. The flexies only have to go north to Kokee and then straight east to Quest.

With no clouds near us at noon we postpone the rigid launches until 1 PM, as pilots are reluctant to get launched when there aren't any visible signs of lift, especially on a day that calls for clouds. The rigids get launched within ten minutes and the flexies start launching fifteen minutes after we start. We've only got a fifteen minutes gap between the classes today, so it's good that we have different first turnpoints.

At 1 PM there are a few wispies around and cloud base is 4,500'. The lift is weak and only three rigids take the first start time at 1:30, a half hour after we open the launch. The rest of us take the second start time at 2 PM, fifteen minutes before the flex wings open their first start window. The start intervals are a half hour for them also.

I catch a little bit of lift just before the 2 PM start time and am able to head southwest with 4,000'. The lift is still weak but I'm heading for the Green Swamp and the cu's in that direction. I see that Jacques Bott is heading south instead, around the swamp, as I follow Johann on the course line. Then Johann heads south as I head into the swamp to get under some wispies.

I find more weak lift but a few pilots who are willing to head out over the swamp join me as we climb up. I get high enough to run deeper into the swamp to a black cloud and with no one in tow climb at 500 fpm to 5,200'. I'm feeling good.

There are plenty of clouds ahead on the way to the turnpoint, but I don't find much lift under them. Two miles from Dean Still and Rockeridge I meet up with Jacques, but don't find much of the lift he appears to be turning in. Then the bottom drops out from under me as I head into the swamp after the turnpoint. Larry Bunner is there with me and he is falling like a rock also. I go to the driest spot out in the swamp to find the lift and we start climbing from 1,400'. This allows all the guys behind to catch up with us.

They are awfully nice about it staying right above us as we work our way back to cloud base. I bet that this won't happen in the Worlds. Getting back to 5,000' I push hard to the west to get us under the nice black clouds out there before the second turnpoint at Clinton. If the lift isn't good I just keep going.

Four miles before Clinton I get under a nice dark cloud that is the beginning of a cloud street to Clinton. I work the 300 FPM until Campbell finds the 700 fpm right next to me. We climb to 6,000'. Tjaden got there above us and was out of there in a hurry. We see him running in front of us.

The convergence has set up and we are in it. We make the turnpoint going upwind against a 5 mph northwest wind under the street all the way, once we turn, the street continues for twenty miles directly on the course line to the north. It is about half a mile wide and on the west side, toward the Gulf of Mexico (thirty miles away), there are only a few cu's. The street is dark, thick and solid. We porpoise fly under it and then stop for the strong bits. We pass Jacques below us as we race together down the street.

Jim Lamb who started early is out in front but Johann and Tjaden soon catch and pass him. I'm right behind them with Kevin Dutt and now Jim following me. At the end of the street eleven miles from Coleman I catch up with Johann and Paul and we head out into the blue after finding weak lift in the last cloud.

Paul dives toward Coleman. There are clouds to the east of Coleman, but it is not clear that we can make it to the clouds after getting the turnpoint as the sink is strong. Johann is slowly following Paul and I'm keeping an eye on both of them. Three and a half miles out and down to 3,000' with my 5030 saying we'll arrive at Coleman at 1,700' I decide that they are diving into a hole that they might not get out of. I spot a tiny forming cu to my left over Lake Panasofskee to the northwest and get under it to climb back to 4,400'. I'm sure that I'm going to see two gliders on the ground by Coleman.

I head to Coleman and still get pounded but make the turnpoint with 2,800'. I'm still in search mode running downwind to find a thermal. Fortunately Jim Lamb gives me some directions and while it isn't right where he is climbing at 500 fpm I'm able to find the thermal at 1,400' in a ten mph west (downwind) wind. Russell comes and joins me and we slowly climb out. I earlier saw Johann and Paul climbing east of us but couldn't find that thermal. They got a strong thermal right after the turnpoint at 2,000'.

There is a set of cu's heading southeast paralleling the Florida turnpike going in the general direction of Quest Air. We climb to 5,800, fifteen miles out and I go on final glide, heading off the course line a little to the east to deal with the light north northeast wind (also forecasted) and get over the drier areas. There is plenty of lift on the final glide to goal.

Jacques Bott gets fitted for lead. Photo by Timothy Ettridge

Thirteen of fourteen ridge wings make goal:

Place Name Glider Time Total
1 Posch, Johann Air Atos Vr 03:08:30 934
2 Tjaden, Paul Air Atos Vx 03:08:40 915
3 Bott, Jacques Air Atos Vr 03:15:33 830
4 Dutt, Kevn Aeros Phantom 03:17:24 807
5 Straub, Davis Air Atos Vr 03:31:38 709
6 Brown, Russell Air Atos Vr 03:32:25 696
7 Gregory, Oliver Air Atos Vx 03:42:21 646
8 Lamb, James Air Atos Vr 03:57:50 625
9 Bowen, Campbell Air Atos Vx 03:49:41 611
10 Yocom, James Air Atos Vr 03:51:46 601
11 Giles, David Air Atos V 04:01:48 596
12 Bunner, Larry Air Atos Vr 03:57:28 577
13 Gleason, Ron Air Resume C/v 03:59:53 567

Totals:

Place Name Glider Total
1 Posch Johann Air Atos Vr 3051
2 Straub Davis Air Atos Vr 2654
3 Bott Jacques Air Atos Vr 2615
4 Brown Russell Air Atos Vr 2588
5 Lamb James Air Atos Vr 2408
6 Tjaden Paul Air Atos Vx 2194
7 Giles David Air Atos V 2180
8 Bunner Larry Air Atos Vr 2139
9 Yocom James Air Atos Vr 2134
10 Gregory Oliver Air Atos Vx 1887
11 Dutt Kevn Aeros Phantom 1700
12 Bowen Campbell Air Atos Vx 1566
13 Gleason Ron Air Resume C/v 1413
14 Stump Mark Air Atos V 1118

Flex wings (40+ in goal):

Place Name Glider Nation Time Total
1 Bondarchuk, Oleg Aeros Combat Ukr 02:47:47 1000
2 Warren, Curt Moyes Litespeed S4 Usa 02:47:52 991
3 Guillen, Bruno Moyes Litespeed S4.5 Fra 02:47:53 987
4 Hamilton, Robin Moyes Litespeed S4 Gbr 02:48:00 979
5 Hazlett, Brett Moyes Litespeed S4.5 Can 02:48:02 975
6 Durand, Jonny Moyes Litespeed S4 Aus 02:49:12 950
7 Bloom, Phill Moyes Litespeed S4 Usa 02:49:41 940
8 Bajewski, Jorg Moyes Litespeed S5 Deu 02:50:35 925
9 Smith, Christopher Moyes Litespeed S4.5 Usa 02:51:11 916
10 De La Horie, Geffroy Aeros Combat L Fra 02:51:37 908
10 Carter, Kevin Wills Wing Talon Ii 154 Usa 02:51:37 908

Totals:

Place Name Glider Nation Total
1 Bondarchuk Oleg Aeros Combat Ukr 3030
2 Hazlett Brett Moyes Litespeed S4.5 Can 2979
3 Durand Jonny Moyes Litespeed S4 Aus 2872
4 Hamilton Robin Moyes Litespeed S4 Gbr 2748
5 Carter Kevin Wills Wing Talon Ii 154 Usa 2618
6 Warren Curt Moyes Litespeed S4 Usa 2593
7 Mathurin Didier Moyes Litespeed S4 Fra 2571
8 De La Horie Geffroy Aeros Combat L Fra 2559
9 Bloom Phill Moyes Litespeed S4 Usa 2512
10 Guillen Bruno Moyes Litespeed S4.5 Fra 2496

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The Flytec Championships 2006, day 3

Tue, Apr 18 2006, 10:32:08 pm EDT

Flytec, day 3

The northwest winds lighten up to 13 mph, instead of 22 knots.

Jim Lamb|Larry Bunner|Oleg Bondarchuk|Ollie Gregory|Flytec Championships 2006|weather

Scores

The flight and the task on the HOLC and on Google Earth.

The task for both rigids and flexies is to fly 68 miles from Quest cross wind (quartering tail wind) south along highway 27 (if you want to go that far east) to the Avon Park airport. The task committee had come up with some triangle task just in case the wind really dies down, but Jonnie is convinced that after a blown out day there is no way that the winds will die down enough, no matter what the forecast says.

By 10:30 a thick bank of cumulus clouds covers the sky at about 2,500'. It sure doesn't look like there is enough sun on the ground to generate enough lift. The clouds hang in there until the 12:30 launch time for the rigids, so we push everything back half an hour.

The weather guys in Tampa say this layer is going to break up and by 1 PM it has, so I take off first, break a weaklink when the rope bellies, land, this time get behind Rhett, and have a safe and successful tow into weak lift (70 fpm).

The cloud base is now 2,850' so we aren't getting high at all. We'll got 68 miles to go and not much altitude to get there. I head out toward the start circle as soon as I get to cloud base.

The first start time is 1:45 PM but I'm at 2,000' at that time, so I don't want to go. There are four pilots at cloud base (3,000') above me at the edge of the start circle, but they decide not to go either. Now it is a half hour wait until the next start time.

I get up to cloud base and now eight or so of us are waiting around hoping that the weak lift will last long enough for us to be high when it's 2:15 PM. Most of us are at cloud base when the start window opens.

The first glide is a disaster. We go two miles and lose 1,500'. We find lift that averages 25 fpm and just hang in it to keep holding on. Finally, after ten minutes and gaining 250 feet, we find the core of a good thermal (300 fpm) and drift off to the southeast downwind of the course line. Kevin Dutt in the Aeros Phantom has already landed below us still in the start circle. Others will also be doing this.

I get on the radio and ask Jim Lamb if he wants to go south toward the goal or west upwind toward some pilots that are turning. He's think that the convergence is turning on as predicted and that we should head off south. Ollie Gregory, Larry Bunner, Jim Lamb, David Giles, and I head south.

I'm in the lead a little more to the southeast (downwind) and find the lift first. Ollie and Larry join me. Jim and David think that they know better, stay upwind, head for the next thermal, and then have to turn around and come back under us.

The lift is great (well, 300-400 fpm) under a whole series of clouds and Larry, Ollie and I go fast between highway 474 and Wallaby. Ollie misses one thermal for a minute by Wallaby and Larry and I are gone.

We get to 3,600' just before Wallaby and head south on its west side but I can see that the clouds ahead are much more sparse and I know that I've got to be a lot more careful in the next section of the flight south of I4.

Down to 1,700' I work 100 fpm with Larry but that gets us only back to 2,400'. This does not look good. I can see only a few wispy clouds within glide.

We head south and I'm down to 1,100' AGL when I find a line of zero sink and start searching up wind toward the swamp. Larry drifts back and finds lift east of highway 27. He is kind enough to tell me about it and I turn downwind in the street to get under him and find 165 fpm.

Because the wind is strong out of the northwest, the streeting of the lift is very prominent. There are clouds but they are not streeting up, but the lift definitely is. Our course line takes us about 60° to the streets and so we have to jump from lift street to lift street.

We are able to climb to 4,000' in this weak thermal, the highest we've been all day and I head out south with Larry coming up under me, four miles downwind of highway 27 and seven miles downwind of the course line. But we are near lots of clouds and the wind, while it is 13 to 14 mph, is coming from 300°, so it isn't completely cross to us.

Larry and I work our way as a team to the southwest back toward the course line jumping from cloud to cloud. We see a pilot land below us just north of the Bok Tower.

We head for a cloud southwest of the Bok Tower and lo and behold there is Johann circling up under us. This thermal gets us to 4,100' and we are able to glide west of highway 27 and almost back on course line.

I lead our little gaggle over to a black cloud and Larry and Johann find the lift a bit better than I. I'm able to climb to only 3,700' before I decide to press ahead, while they get to 4,000'.

There is an even blacker cloud off to the south and south west that is shading all the ground between us and the goal. I head southwest with Larry and Johann in tow and high above me trying to get on the upwind and sunny side of this cloud. Once I get there the lift is light and there is a little bit of rain.

After a few turns I follow Johann heading south toward wispy clouds on the upwind side of the dark cloud ridge. Down to 1,200' I find a thermal under the cloud I was going for and Johann comes back to join me and Larry. We are only ten miles out from the goal and upwind of the course line.

The thermal gets me to within eight miles of goal (so nice to be drifting toward it) and at 3,500' I head off to goal. With the quartering tail wind I average 18 L/D coming in.

Johann is first in, Larry second, then me. One more rigid wing (David Giles) makes it fifty minutes later. About sixteen or seventeen minutes after we land Oleg who started fifteen minutes after us, then Brett and a bit later Jonnie make goal. Much later many of the flex wings that took the second start time at 2:45 PM make it in. Fifteen make goal.

Fog in the early morning at Quest.

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Big ATOS

Wed, Apr 12 2006, 1:49:28 pm EDT

ATOS

15+ meter ships coming to the Worlds?

Jim Lamb|Quest Air

I have multiple sources on this now. Apparently AIR has produced two 15.4 meter wings (50' 6") and at least one, if not both, are coming to Florida to be flown in the Worlds. The wings use the VX d-cells and the VR extensions. The VR uses a beefed up version of the VS d-cells for a 45' 3" (13.8 m) span.

So the question becomes, what's the point of showing up for the rigid wing worlds if you are not flying one of these wings? Also, why do you have a VR on order from AIR?

Unlike flex wings, which essentially have a physical limitation on their span due to the fact that the pilot must use their weight and the shifting of the wing to turn, rigid wing gliders with spoilerons are not so restricted. Perhaps given that reality we need to include handicap factors if we continue to fly together. Of course, that would assume that we have accurate polars.

I asked Felix not to do this over six months ago and I'm quite disappointed that he did this right before the Worlds. I would ask him to keep these gliders in Europe until June. Suddenly, my VR is worth a lot less.

I've asked for more information from Felix and the US distributor, Jim Lamb.

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AIR ATOS third party Velcro problems

Thu, Apr 6 2006, 9:59:37 pm EDT

Velcro

Send your sail back to AIR for new Velcro

A.I.R. ATOS|Jim Lamb|sailplane

Jim Lamb «jlamb» USA representative for AIR writes:

Velcro: There has been three incidences now of older sails having Velcro replaced and then having flight problems. Certainly there could be a factor in who and how it was done. I haven't examined any of the sails, but obviously there needs to be abundant caution to not distort the sail. There has been a significant improvement in the Velcro used from early gliders. Much better to replace the sail (and the spoilers) - the improvement in performance is significant. I've committed to a large number of replacement sails for the 'B' models in the US at some savings. Call.

Tuning: There are some 'carry over' concepts from our collective flexwing experiences that are not applicable to these rigidwings. The only 'tuning' you can do to a wing is to bend the fish cams up or down a little (shouldn't be necessary or desirable) or change the sweep. Tightening the sail on the ribs will not do anything except take out wrinkles (desirable). Changing the sweep can happen/be changed by tightening the sail straps at the rear of the sail, adjusting the cam at the tip wand, or by changing the nose latch. Humidity, age, and (apparently) not correctly replacing the Velcro can shrink/relax the cloth in span. Small deviations in sweep generally, but not solely, change the center of lift and thus 'trim'. NO AIRCRAFT flies safely with the center of gravity behind the center of lift (Certainly my apologies to the better informed Aero Engineers out there). A taught, light line attached to the disconnected #9 fishcams on a correctly assembled glider with the keel level should pass within 5mm +/- above (perpendicular) a small hole in the ORIGINAL tail stinger. The sweep should be reviewed at regular intervals (50 hrs. suggested) and certainly ANYTIME you make any changes to the three things that affect sweep!

Trim: Having said the above, a good discussion of trim can be found in the VR Manual that's on-line, compliments of Davis, here: https://OzReport.com/atosvrmanual.php.

Tails: If you don't have one, get one. It won't prevent a spin, but it is much more difficult to induce one and the recovery is much quicker. If expense is an issue, call me. John, we all fly in air that we can't see. It's turbulent in the micro and the macro. I would tend to believe that your inside wing probably also (in addition to you having it moving quite slow) encountered some 'micro' spoiled air that instantly stalled your wing. Perhaps the Velcro change contributed, etc. etc. Perhaps without the tail, you'd have had a worse result. I'm glad you had one.

Flying Style: Again as a holdover from our flexwing past, we were all use to pushing out to turn faster or take better advantage of lift, but generally we tended to 'horse' the flexwing around more. The rigids are much better flown when handled like a sailplane and 'flown' around the thermal. The upper part of the polar is relatively flat from 2-3 mph below to 4-5 mph above min. sink. There's so much more benefit to being fast than slow that unless it's sunset and 100fpm, I'm almost always thermalling between 26-32mph indicated.

Adjustments: There is also good information on maintenance and adjustments at the above website. Once again from our 'flexwing' days where people were constantly adjusting battens and batten tension and reflex and sprogs, etc. These gliders are called rigidwings because they are. The ribs don't move up and down or change. The glider is in the DHV certified configuration when it is delivered and you want to keep it there!

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AIR ATOS »

ATOS's available after the Worlds.

ATOS

March 26, 2006, 10:55:02 EST

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Jim Lamb

Jim Lamb «jlamb» writes:

Things are going to change around Sequatchie Valley this year. Ollie had gotten used to riding herd on everyone there in his VX ‘mother ship’. Now Steve and Kathy Lee, two of the very best Tennessee pilots, both have new ATOS’s coming!

Additionally, I will have several ‘slightly’ used ATOS VR’s after the Florida Class 5 Worlds Meet. I have a short list of pilots that will have an opportunity to buy them at some savings. Other interested pilots or their Dealers can contact me the numbers below

Light sailplanes at the SSA Convention

December 17, 2005, 4:22:45 pm PST

SSA

Lighthawk and Silent 2

Jim Lamb|sailplane

Jim Lamb «jlamb» writes:

Both the new Silent2 and the LightHawk (the second one) should be at the SSA show. If the LightHawk gets there, Dick Johnson is going to keep it to do as his last test and write-up for the Soaring magazine.

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AIR ATOS USA

Wed, Dec 14 2005, 9:48:45 am PST

ATOS

A backlog of orders.

A.I.R. ATOS|Jim Lamb|Kenny Brown

Jim Lamb «jlamb» writes:

AIR USA will be in Dallas at the SSA Convention. I'm going to share floor space with Kenny Brown and will have a VR there for show.

AIR is  busy. They are still back ordered 75 gliders with delivery into June.

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Report from France

Thu, Nov 10 2005, 6:00:12 am EST

Jim relaxes after visiting the AIR factory

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Jim Lamb

Jim Lamb «jlamb» writes:

Karen and I are still in France, sitting on the bench waiting for our first chance to get in the sport of car burning. Perhaps a nice Smart Car, something small to start with.

I had a good time there, one day at the 'AIR factory', and three days in the Dolomites. We flew two, one with Alex Ploner and the other with three of the German team members.

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AIR ATOS VR »

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Jim Lamb|Paul Tjaden|weather

Tue, Aug 16 2005, 4:00:01 pm EDT

Getting to know you.

Last year I flew the AIR ATOS VX and it was love at first sight. The thing was just a wonder to behold. I couldn't have been more happy with it especially after it won all the competitions that it was entered into.

I sold it in September and Tony Deleo has been having a great time with it ever since (see here). I then looked forward to a new VX in the spring.

But in the winter I heard that the VR was the new glider from AIR, and reluctantly I decided to go with this new glider, hoping that it would be as strong as the VX with as low a sink rate. How could the VR be any better than my beloved VX?

I got to fly the VR the day before the Flytec Championships and it wasn't the same as my familiar VX feeling (which I hadn't felt in a long time, so it was hard to say, really). I had been flying flex wings for the previous six months, so that definitely added to my lack of feel for the new glider.

During the Flytec Championships we found that I was gliding side by side with Neville on an AIR ATOS V and I noticed that Paul Tjaden had a slightly better sink rate in his AIR ATOS VX. Still I liked the glider and I just had to get used to.

I finally got used to the glider flying 190 miles in Kansas and 365 miles in Texas. I took those lessons and feel of the glider to the Big Spring Open. Whenever the lift got light or I got low, I just went into Zapata mode.

One of the problems I had with the VR, the one that really bothered me, was the fact that the sail didn't fit on the winglets. Then Felix told me to cut 7mm off the aluminum tubes and that helped. Cutting another 7 mm off each tube at Big Spring (thanks to importer Jim Lamb and his tube cutter) and finally got the sail to fight snug against the ridge on the winglets.

It appears that the weather conditions in the US are just that different from the ones in Europe. Cutting our tubes down and making a few Velcro and tip strut adjustments, solved our problems.

Flying the VR at Big Spring was a joy and it really responded well in thermals allowing me to climb much better than previously when I wasn't aware of how to fly it. The winglets keep the air flowing over the top of the wing near the spoilerons and make for easy turning. It is the only ATOS I have been willing to push out and slow down.

I love turning tight in it. I love slowing it down. The tail flutters if you go too slow, so you have plenty of warning. There is little bar pressure at high speeds (Russell's VR has too much bar pressure at high speeds and needs to be adjusted) so it is very easy to fly at 55 to 60 mph. I saw 75 mph over the ground the other day.

Now that the winglet problem is fixed and I'm used to the glider I'm very happy with it. I look forward to doing even more with it and getting better at flying it.

2005 Big Spring Open »

Fri, Aug 12 2005, 6:00:00 pm EDT

The longest task successfully made in US hang gliding competition history.

Belinda Boulter|Big Spring Open 2005|Campbell Bowen|Jim Lamb|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Russell "Russ" Brown

The flight and task

The scores.

More on the flex wings: http://jonnydurand.blogspot.com/ http://skyout.blogspot.com and http://kagelites.blogspot.com

Yesterday was my birthday and I was looking for a cool birthday present. The task committee had said that if a good number of folks made goal on Thursday we would go further on Friday, and the goal for the rigids (all of whom made it other than Tim on the Exxtacy) was already planned to be Muleshoe, a goal that we had been unable to get to a few years ago. On that day, when the goal was for every one, there was a huge cu-nimb right over the goal and a few pilots got very wet.

There were already streaming cu's being pushed along by the forecasted higher wind when we got out to the airport yesterday so it sure looked like we would be able to call the big tasks. The only issue was, would there be over development. On Thursday there had been a lack of clouds, with a fifteen mile blue stretch going into goal. We could see the cu-nimbs in New Mexico 150 miles away when we got to goal;

The RUC said that the chance of over development was there but it wasn't overwhelming. The ETA, the night before, had showed that there would in fact be overdevelopment up by Muleshoe, but not by Lubbock.

After much discussion we called a 127.5 mile (205 km) task for the flex wings to Littlefield and 150.1 miler (241.6 km) for the rigids to Muleshoe. This was the longest task called for in the US competition. It missed by 0.4 kilometers the longest task called in Australia which was the longest successfully completed task.

The cu's were thick already as we got out to launch for a 12:30 PM launch time. There was no delay as we wanted to get going right away. On tow I saw my vario displaying 1,400 fpm on the averager.

Russell Brown and I hung out under a dark street at cloud base in the 6 KM start circle. The lift was light and we just slowly lost altitude as we waited for the first start clock. Four pilots, including Johann, who had gone to our east, were much lower by the time the window opened.

Russell and I caught a good thermal right after the window opened and we were back to cloud base at 6,100' MSL or 3,600' AGL. There was a cu-nimb a little to our east but plenty of cu's all around us.

Russell and I worked together and when I got down to 1000' AGL after a seven mile glide, Russell was able to find a thermal off to my west that got me out of that black hole. We worked our way north northwest jumping from cloud to cloud as the wind blew nineteen mph out of the south southeast.

The thermals were smooth and great fun to fly in. We had to stop and slow down again ninety six miles out and just wait in light lift until we found better.

After that we had multiple choices for clouds to jump to and we could cross the cloud streets, such as they were, with ease. Belinda radioed that Johann had gone down by La Mesa and we had been quite a ways to the east of him, so it looked like we had chosen a better line.

At eighty miles out I could see a wall of clouds about a hundred miles ahead of us, that appeared to be the edge of a cu-nimb or blow off from a cu-nimb. I was beginning to wonder if we would be able to get to the goal.

We raced from eighty to forty miles out hitting strong thermals, one after another. We could see a lot more of the cu-nimb that was to our west and now to our north as we headed northwest.

Going for a long glide to a cloud street heading to the north northwest, I was down to 1,100' AGL at twenty seven miles out. Russell was near me thinking that he was landing. I hung on in light lift until I spotted three small hawks to my north going up. Those birds got me back to 6,800' MSL. Russell also got back up.

Twenty three miles out I now had a really good view of the cu-nimb to my north and west. It was raining ahead and the ground was completely shaded within fifteen miles of the goal, but there were good cu's where I was out in the sun. I was getting pretty nervous as I looked into the teeth of the cu-nimb. I had Belinda call David just to tell him that there was a cu-nimb over goal but told her not to make any recommendation about what to do about it. He told us to fly safe.

I found good lift just before the ground went dark and climbed to 7,100'. After that it would be a straight glide under the shadows due north to goal. It was raining just to my northwest. It was a 22:1 glide to goal. I was scared.

Five miles from goal I was down to 1,000' AGL. The south wind was propelling me along at almost fifty mph and the sink was only 200 fpm. I didn't think I could make it, but there was no reason not to try. I was just holding on.

Two and a half miles out and down to 600 feet the rain started, but there was lift associated with the rain and I started to climb as I continued on hoping I'd get there without getting too wet.

I flew over a set of high tension power lines by about fifty feet and saw that I just had to make it past the railroad tracks ahead to make it to goal. I couldn't get to the airport as there was another power line between me and it.

I was confused at this point and as I turned to land at about 80 feet I found myself going downwind to the east at 53 mph. Not good. I pulled in further and got the glider back heading to the south, cross wind, and flared for a good and soft landing.

The wind from the cu-nimb was twenty miles per hour out of the west for the last mile as I was coming into goal from the south. I had been experiencing a thirteen mph south wind for the last five miles and just didn't have enough attention to be aware of the wind change.

I was way out in a field in thick weeds and I wasn't able to get back to the road before the rain really hit. Belinda and I spent a half hour hiding under the glider as it poured. I was the only pilot at goal. Russell landed nine miles out.

Jim Lamb and Campbell Bowen approached goal twenty minutes behind me. Jim hit the gust front and with his glider turning on its own and the lightening hitting on both sides of him he ran back to land with Campbell.

Six flex wing pilots made it to the goal twenty three miles to the south at Littlefield. It didn;t rain there.

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2005 Big Spring Open »

Thu, Aug 11 2005, 4:00:00 am EDT

A triangle into 13 mph winds.

Big Spring Open 2005|Denny Mallet|Dustin Martin|Jim Lamb|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Kevin Carter|Mike Barber|photo|Robin Hamilton

The flight and task

The scores. Check out the photos on the scores web page.

More on the flex wings: http://jonnydurand.blogspot.com/ http://skyout.blogspot.com and http://kagelites.blogspot.com.

News, news and more news.

The forecast called for stronger lift (500 fpm) and an east wind averaging five mph, so we decided to call a smallish (63 miles) triangle, and a bit bigger one (69 miles) for the rigid wings. The cloud base was supposed to rise to 7,500' at 4 PM from 5,400' at 1 PM. By noon the clouds were already forming so the day looked good.

It was a very quick climb to 5,500' and light lift right at cloud base. Almost all the rigid wings were hanging out at cloud base ten minutes after the launch opened and twenty minutes before the first start gate. We just had to wait, and given that we are high we decided (on the radio) to head out at the first start time.

It was Vince, Johann, Russell and I in the lead gaggle. I'd mentioned to the assembled pilots on the radio that there were no clouds on our course line to the west, but Russell was the first pilot off the mark and headed for a small cloud right on the course line. Guess what? No lift there and then we were running hard to the north to get under the clouds.

We hadn't gotten that high to begin with and now we had to scrape it up from low to get back in the game. The wind was averaging eleven mph out of the east south east. Heading north gave our track a semi circle shape as we stayed under the clouds on our way to the turnpoint at the Stanton turnpoint fifteen miles due west of Big Spring.

Johann got out on his own and got a bit lower and we scraped him off at the first turnpoint. It took forty five minutes to go the fifteen miles because we had taken such a circuitous route to get there.

There was plenty of lift as we came into the first turnpoint and we found even more lift as we headed north cross wind for twenty three miles. We stayed high and headed north east whenever we went on glide to get upwind before the next thermal.

Ten miles out from the turnpoint, Johann rejoined us and the four of us worked together again. Seven miles out Johann and I took a more northerly course under four clouds looking for lift or less sink. We didn't find a single bit of lift and had to turn northeast toward the route that Vince had taken out in the blue to get under the next dark cloud.

I did not find the lift under the cloud that Vince and Johann found and dropped out of the sky searching until racing downwind down to 700' AGL, west of the turnpoint, found something to get me back up as my three flying partners got high and headed up wind.

I put myself in Zapata mode. Hang on and get up slowly no matter how long it takes. I had to repeat this over the next forty minutes to get the turnpoint and get on the course line upwind toward the goal. By this time the flex wings which started on their shorter task an hour behind us were coming around the turnpoint and I figured that I could join up with them.

After working on my own under clouds to 6,000' I then headed south east toward the only clouds (there was a thick line) to come in under the three flex wings and one rigid. I followed along under the clouds but when the lead flex wing pilot found a thermal and I came in under him, I didn't find the lift. I searched over a two square mile area and found only zero sink which I hung in with drifting downwind. Not getting up I landed 23 miles from goal.

Russell had already landed fifteen miles from goal. Johann and Vince were able to continue and make goal. The rigid wing above me was Denny Mallet. He was able to make it into goal with the flex wings. Jim Lamb came in behind him and got to within four miles.

Six or seven flex wings made it back against the wind. They didn't include Robin Hamilton who was in the lead after two tasks. Dustin Martin won the day. Jonny Durand, Mike Barber, and much later Kevin Carter made goal. See the scores above for more information.

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2005 Big Spring Open »

Mon, Aug 8 2005, 6:00:00 pm EDT

Gust fronts and a big cell at the first turnpoint.

Belinda Boulter|Big Spring Open 2005|Campbell Bowen|David Glover|Denny Mallet|Jim Lamb|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Larry Bunner|Paul Tjaden|Ron Gleason|Russell "Russ" Brown

The flight and task

The scores.

More on the flex wings: http://www.jonnydurand.blogspot.com/

The forecast called for the cloud base to lower between 1 PM and 4 PM along with reduced surface temperatures. The wind was supposed to increase and the cloud cover increase also. There was a very low chance of overdevelopment near us, but there were plenty of clouds to the east, left over from the storm the night before, it seemed.

It appeared that the increased cloud cover would explain the lower surface temperature, but forecasted lift was only forecasted to drop from 500 fpm to 400 fpm. It was quite confusing. We decided to get going early just in case there was overdevelopment.

The rigids got off at 12:30 PM and the flex wings started launching less than a half hour later. Our first start gate was at 1:15 and every rigid wing pilot took the first start time given the high chance for over development.

While circling in the start circle Ron Gleason and I waited back while others went out to the edge of the start circle. It seemed to me with the 10 mph south wind that it would be good to hold back and get high. It also appeared that the pilots had to go outside the small start circle to find lift, so that they would have to come back against the wind to get the start time.

Given the strong winds and the first turnpoint to the north, it would be easy to race to get the start time and that a better idea would be to find better lift and get higher with a margin of safety before the edge of the start circle. Ron and I did this and got a great start while other pilots had to struggle to get back to the start circle.

Ron and I headed down a cloud street just to the east of the course line to the first turnpoint fourteen miles to the north northwest. It was a thick cloud street but up ahead there are even thicker clouds just to the east of the first turnpoint. It was looking dark and rainy to the east.

I spotted Campbell Bowen  turning just past the first turnpoint at an intersection on highway 87 and came in over him to climb to 6,800'. It was a nine mile run to the west northwest toward the next turnpoint 27 mile away before Larry Bunner and I would find the next lift.

There was a dark cloud to the north west and Larry and I attempted to stay to the south and out of the overdevelopment. There were plenty of cu's and lots of sunlight to the west northwest. The wind was 10 mph out of the south.

Larry and I followed the clouds and it looked like there was no or little lift near the turnpoint as there was a big area of blue to the south and east of it. We followed the clouds on the east side of the blue hole hoping to get close enough to the turnpoint and then jump over and knick it before racing to the clouds to the northeast toward the goal at La Mesa.

With the cell building behind us to the south east, and the flex wings required to make the same first turnpoint, we heard from David Glover (via Belinda) that the flex wing's task had been cancelled. Most flex wing pilots went back to the airport and some landed in the gust front for some exciting action. Maybe Jonny will write it up on his blog.

I could see Vince just ahead of me as I got to within six miles of the turnpoint. He went out into the blue and got quite low heading for Johann who was much lower and turning two and a half miles to the east northeast of the turnpoint. Vince caught good lift and I raced to join them from 6,800'.

Just as I was about to come in under Vince at 6,300' and over Johann, I saw that the turnpoint was just to the west and as I was quite high I decided to just run for it and then go on course to goal toward good looking clouds.

Apparently at this point or soon after Vince heard on his radio frequency from someone that he apparently doesn't know, that the day had been cancelled. He signaled to Johann by pulling out his legs and bicycling that the task was called and they both headed south.

I headed for the turnpoint and made it easily with Paul Tjaden just above me and Larry Bunner just behind me. We headed northeast to the good looking clouds and found very smooth 550 fpm to 7,100'.

Paul got a head start being a little higher to begin with and Larry and I raced after him for 11 miles on glide into goal. Denny Mallet and Russell Brown came in a few minutes later.

Ron Gleason, Jim Lamb and Campbell Bowen landed about four or five miles short.

Big Spring Open

Sat, Aug 6 2005, 8:00:00 am EDT

The sky dome is covered with mid level scud.

Dragonfly|Jim Lamb|Mike Barber|Paris Williams|Paul Tjaden|Robin Hamilton|Ron Gleason|Russell "Russ" Brown|weather

No results posted yet.

The flight and task

The first day of the Big Spring Open was a resounding success. The weather was iffy at first, before we started launching, but it looks like the weather will improve every day.

Last week it rained four inch here, after a long spell of dry weather. This week we've had a few more inches of rain, so the fields and pasture are pretty soft out there. The soil moisture content has gone from purple to yellow.

The BLIPMAP called for 550-600 fpm lift to 6,500' to 7,500' MSL (ground level is 2,500' MSL at the Big Spring airport). The wind was forecasted to be 8-10 mph out of the south and it looked like there was a better chance for over development just to our east or southeast.

The task committee wanted a shorter task for the day, so we picked a 60 mile triangle for the flex wings and a 75 miler for the rigid wings (and a 40 mile out and return for Sport Class) to the west. The flex wing task was the same task as on the last day of the meet last year. On that day, after it rained all night, the lift was too weak for anyone to make it around. Not true today.

We waited all morning for the middle level clouds to burn off, and started to launch the rigids at 1 PM as it did burn off and the cu's formed underneath. The flex wings launched at 1:30 PM, with a last start time at 3:00 PM.

Bobby pulled me up behind his new Dragonfly with the rebuilt engine. It's the lower power two stroke, so I just got off in the first lift as otherwise it takes forever to catch up to the other guys.

We all climbed in light lift to cloud base at 6,200' and headed out to the west northwest to the edge of the 5 KM start circle. Four of us (Johann, Ron, Vince, and I) waited for the second start time while the others went ahead. The flex wings would start at least a half hour behind us. Ron timed the run and climb under a cloud closer to the start point perfectly and we got to our highest altitude yet just as the second start window was opening.

The first leg was a cross wind task twenty miles to the west northwest with an eleven mph south wind . There were plenty of cu's and it was no problem racing along together (Ron, Johann and I). We even found a thermal that got us to 7,000' just before the turnpoint, so we could be high heading into the wind to the south for 30 miles. We caught most if not all of the pilots who left earlier at the turnpoint.

The lift was smooth with no hard edges and would continue to be so throughout the flight. With recent rains the ground below was green and the thermals responded by being marshmallows (or is that marshmellows).

I headed back a bit to the east to get under what looked like the best lift line heading south, but eight miles out had to run way to the west to find better clouds and better lift to stay up. The upwind leg would provide plenty of opportunities for many of us  to go to the left and right to find lift and stay alive. It took a couple of tries to get up high enough to get by the Stanton airport. Ron Gleason got low there and landed just north of Stanton as I was working up way to his west.

Paul Tjaden hooked up with me and we headed for Stanton and I headed for the better clouds to the east. Paul took a more westerly line and didn't come over to me when I found lift. He soon landed a few miles south of Stanton. Again, I was doing my best to find the best looking clouds and going way off course line if necessary to get to them.

South of Stanton I came in under Johann and Russell Brown under much thicker clouds. It was raining at our turnpoint fifteen miles to the south. Hopefully the rain would stop or we could get around it to the west by the time we got there.

Again I had to go way to the west flying well below the leading edge of a cloud along the leading edge (ninety degrees to the course line) to find lift and get back from 2,200' AGL. The clouds were too thick along the course line and I needed to get out in the sun to find the lift.

Fortunately we (Johann and I)  found good lift were able to get to 7,200' MSL which made the six mile run to the turnpoint doable. The rain had stopped, but, of course, there were no cu's around the turnpoint, but thankfully the sink was light and once we got around it we could drift with the wind to find a thermal away from the turnpoint.

Johann was just a bit ahead and a little higher and headed directly toward the goal. I followed behind and lower over territory with locked gated roads below (you can tell because they go to gas or oil well heads) and no cu's ahead. I found weak lift that I had to take while Johann glided ahead, and it drifted me back to the northwest toward an open road and away from goal.

The lift was getting quite weak as it was approaching five o'clock, and I took any lift I could find. I would spot a puff of a cumulus cloud and go for it and there would be weak lift, but at least I was still in the air. I had lost track of Johann.

After a couple of climbs I spotted four flex wings turning five miles to the north. They had made their turnpoint which was ten miles north of ours and I figured I would just join up with them and we'd all get to goal together.

When I got to the flex wings and spotted Craig Coomber I discovered that they were just surviving and in the worst lift that I had experienced all day. After losing six hundred feet messing around with them I headed downwind for the wispy cu's to the north to try to get in under something useful.

Three miles later down to 500' AGL, I found a bit of lift and hung with it as I drifted to the north northwest, again away from the goal hoping just to stay alive for another chance. That thermal took me back to almost 6,000' and I was in the game again.

Now the goal was almost due east and I faced an 11 mph south southeast wind. But the nice part about this was that while course line was blue there were clouds between me and the airport. I found good lift under them and in spite of a bit of a head wind, I was able to glide in from ten miles out from 3,700' AGL (6,200' MSL).

Johann made it in a half hour before I did. Craig got there just before I came in. Mike Barber came in soon after that, then Robin Hamilton. Paris Williams squeaked in, followed by Jim Lamb and finally Jon Durand just making it as the goal cylinder radius was 800 meters. Five flex wings and three rigid wings at goal.

Perhaps we'll try a less difficult task tomorrow. It took Johann 3:30 hours to go 75 miles. It took Craig Coomber about that long to go 60 miles. Our little two hour task, a short one for the first day, turned out to be a bit harder than we anticipated.

AIR Safety Notice

Thu, Jul 14 2005, 1:00:00 am GMT

The wire and the pulley

ATOS

Aeronautic Innovation Rühle & Co GmbH|Felix Ruehle|Jim Lamb

www.a-i-r.de

Felix Ruehle «felix» writes:

Please check the control cable on all ATOSes with the carbon control frames. We found cables that have not been checked.

Please check the cable close to the pulley before every flight. It is best to check before each flight and then during break down. Usually the cable shows wear first at the small keel pulley. It has to be replaced if there is even just one broken strand!

You can get a new control cable from A-I-R (or in USA from Jim Lamb).

A new replacement pulley will be soon available (in about three weeks).

Discuss "AIR Safety Notice" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Weather forecasting

Tue, Jul 12 2005, 12:00:02 pm EDT

At the sailplane sport class championships

Dr. John "Jack" Glendening|Jim Lamb|Nick Kennedy|photo|sailplane|weather

Jim Lamb «jlamb» writes:

I got to fly one day (Duo Discus) with Karl Striedieck in Parowan - US National Sport Class Championships. Very interesting seeing several ex-HG pilots - Nick Kennedy, Bob Faris, and others. I didn't observe they know anything about racing that we don't!

The weather knowledge was terrific however. Try this website for MODIS Rapid Response System satellite photos: http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/  .

There are two satellites that do natural color photos down to 250 meters. Go to the Near-real-time subsets. The day photos come from about mid-afternoon. If you register the corners of the area, you can use the photo as a background in SeeYou - find the cloud you climbed under!!

Also, download and try a pictorial program called B-mapper. Http://www.bmapper.com/ that allow you to overlay Dr. Jack maps in SeeYou over your route.

Discuss weather at the Oz Report forum

AIR ATOS VR »

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Jim Lamb

Wed, Jun 15 2005, 3:00:01 pm EDT

Trimmed

On the advice of the factory (Felix and Christoph) and the US distributor (Jim Lamb) I trimmed 7 mm off the inside end of the outboard leading edge aluminum tubes on my early production version AIR ATOS VR in order to get the sail to better fit with the winglets. This provided a much improved fit.

I assume that later production models will have this adjustment already made.

Chris Muller crashes

Fri, Apr 22 2005, 4:00:07 pm EDT

Going for the bag and hitting the cone instead.

Chris Muller|Dustin Martin|Jim Lamb|Ollie Gregory|video

Chris Muller|Dustin Martin|Jim Lamb|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Ollie Gregory|video

Chris Muller|Dustin Martin|Jim Lamb|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Ollie Gregory|video

Chris Muller crashed on landing today while attempting to grab the bag at the finish line (the actual finish line is a 402 meter circle). Instead he grabbed or hit the cone with his base tube (according to Jim Lamb who as over him) and immediately skidded into the ground (there is a complete video of the accident). With a no-protection-provided helmet (even the manufacturer characterizes this model as a salad bowel with shoe string), and no full face protection, he broke his jaw. Ollie Gregory, a psychiatrist (and therefore a doctor), ran out and saw that he wasn't breathing, and pulled his jaw forward to free up the air passage. Chris could then sort of breath on his own.

Chris had a good pulse and good blood pressure. The EMT's arrived less than five minutes after the accident and he was helicoptered to Orlando Medical Center. His mother, Vincene, will be here tomorrow.

There were three bags in a row today at the finish line. The wind was cross at between 5 and 10 mph. Paris tried for the bags, but felt that he was going too fast (80 mph) over the ground and it was too bumpy, so he pulled up. Jonny hit the first two bags and grabbed the third one.

If I get an update on Chris' condition I'll provide it. We are hopeful here.

Diving fast and close to the ground is obviously dangerous. A witness who reviewed the video said that Chris appeared to just straight fly into the ground.  I prefer to have my feet under me when I come close to the ground. I'm not nearly as cool as Chris, Jonny, Dustin, and Paris, but I really feel cool when I'm up in monkey bar position and diving for the deck to get through the gradient to get into ground effect.

Discuss high speed crashes at the Oz Report forum

2005 Flytec Championship, day seven

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Brett Hazlett|Brian Porter|Bruce Barmakian|Campbell Bowen|cart|Chris Muller|Davis Straub|Dr. John "Jack" Glendening|Dustin Martin|Flytec Championships 2005|Glen Volk|Jacques Bott|Jim Lamb|Johann Posch|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Kevin Carter|Mike Barber|Oleg Bondarchuk|Paris Williams|Phill Bloom|Ron Gleason|Tim Denton|weather

Thu, Apr 21 2005, 4:00:00 pm EDT

Ring around the swamp.

Flytec Championship

The flight and task today.

The weather models and the weather gods get it together for today, which we greatly appreciate. The National Weather Service local forecast (from some model) and the RUC model (that Dr. Jack uses) disagreed on the top surface temperature (79 degrees for Jack and 84 for the NWS). I liked the NWS number so went with that value. Therefore I predicted stronger lift and higher cloud bases than BLIPSPOT showed, and sure enough, that's what we got.

Cloudbase was over 5,000' at 1 PM and over 6,700' later in the day (around 4 PM). Dr. Jack called for nice coherent thermals, and sure enough they were perfect. At one point four of us were in a thermal going up at 1,800 fpm (according in Robert Resinger's instrument, mine showed 1000 fpm).

The clouds were predicted to be about 2,000' thick and they were about that. They were also quite plentiful starting early. We also got going 45 minutes earlier with long tasks to take advantage of the great conditions forecast for the day.

Both the flex wings and the rigid wings were tasked to go around the Green Swamp with different turnpoints and start times to keep them separated. The task for the rigids was a little over 90 miles and for the flexies a little over 80 miles.

The cu's formed early and the pilots got excited. The pilot Le Mans run across the runways to the setup area was especially grueling as it was much further than the case for the last few days. We opened  launch at 12:15 PM, so there was no time to waste.

The rigids got off quickly and after working some light lift, I joined the pilots who got hauled up after me and we climbed quickly to cloudbase at 5,000'. We (most of the pilots) actually drove south to the edge of the 15 mile entry start circle too early and had to find lift one mile within the circle. Luckily at 10 minutes before the second start time we were able to drive two miles back upwind to the north (the wind is 5 mph out of the north) to get under a very inviting cloud that sucked us back up to 5,500'.

I played a little trick. Most of the pilots were hanging out at the south end of the cloud just outside the start circle staying out of the cloud. I hung back to the north and went back under the cloud four minutes before the start time. I climbed up under the cloud to get above the pilots at the edge of the cloud. I was able to stay out of the cloud and get two hundred feet over every one else.

At 1:15 we all took off with Robert in the lead (flying faster). I had the imperial view two hundred feet over a dozen or so rigid wing pilots all just behind Robert. My strategy of following Robert (he didn't have the yellow jersey today so it was harder) seemed to be the preferred strategy. Or it was Robert's strategy to lead.

I've mentioned before how important getting into a good position at the start is in competition. I had the perfect position.

He found the first thermal six miles out and we regained the 2,000' that we had all lost on the glide. Robert took off a little over my head and I followed closely behind while the others were not following as fast.

Robert took a couple of turns in a thermal that I didn't notice as having much lift and continued through. Robert and I continued on a nine mile glide to the turnpoint at Dean Still and Rockridge Road. He came in five hundred over my head and continued to the west toward the next turnpoint over the Green Swamp.

I found 600 fpm just south of the intersection to 6,000' and headed west toward the slow burning swamp fire in the Green Swamp. What's this I see? There was Robert down below me turning in the smoke of the fires. I joined him and we slowly climbed up as blackened bits flew passed us.

We worked together in light lift under lots of clouds to catch up just before the Clinton turnpoint with Jim Lamb and Tim Denton who started at 1 PM. The lift was light until we got north of Dade City to find the strongest lift of the day with Brian Porter and Bruce Barmakian joining us. I was lower as we climbed out in the strong lift. I followed a mile behind at 6,700'.

I raced to catch up and caught Bruce about 7 miles out from the thermal right at his altitude. Robert was still 500 feet higher with Brian (who decided to stick with him). Within a mile Robert and Brian were showing another thermal and I joined them. Bruce came over lower, didn't find it and continued on getting very low.

The clouds were lined up to Coleman our next turnpoint, 33 miles from Clinton and the lift was plentiful as I raced to keep Robert and Brian in sight. Every one else was left behind. The cu's thinned out at Coleman, and it was a bit of a struggle to jump from thermal to thermal to the Turnpike and 33 intersection. I kept spotting Brian and Robert so I was feeling good.

With a northwest wind it was an easy glide back to Quest.

Not long after we landed the flexies came in from their task. Dustin was first in, with Jonny getting the bag once again.

Primoz had trouble with his control frame falling into pieces on the cart. According to Regina he seems to be having trouble landing the Phantom. I saw him take out one of his aluminum down tubes today (the one that replaced the damaged carbon fiber one) and the control frame was pretzeled. Primoz got a late start as he replaced his down tube and came in fast.

Rigids:

Place Name Glider Nation Time Total
1 REISINGER Robert AIR Atos VR AUT 03:00:43 1000
2 STRAUB Davis AIR Atos VR USA 03:04:48 927
3 ENDTER Vincent AIR Atos VR USA 03:12:25 855
4 ALMOND Neville AIR Atos V GBR 03:19:43 799
5 BOWEN Campbell Flight Designs Axxess + USA 03:23:21 771
6 YOCOM James AIR Atos VR USA 03:29:14 727
7 RUEHLE Felix AIR Atos VR DEU 03:30:18 718
8 BARMAKIAN Bruce AIR Atos VR USA 03:40:23 710
9 POSCH Johann Helite Tsunami AUT 03:31:14 709
10 GLEASON Ron AIR Atos VR USA 03:35:40 682

Cumulative Rigids:

Place Name Glider Nation Total
1 REISINGER Robert AIR Atos VR AUT 4812
2 BARMAKIAN Bruce AIR Atos VR USA 3820
3 ALMOND Neville AIR Atos V GBR 3778
4 YOCOM James AIR Atos VR USA 3701
5 GRICAR Primoz Aeros Phantom SVN 3519
6 ENDTER Vincent AIR Atos VR USA 3498
7 POSCH Johann Helite Tsunami AUT 3238
8 STRAUB Davis AIR Atos VR USA 3166
9 BOTT Jacques AIR Atos VR FRA 2958
10 GLEASON Ron AIR Atos VR USA 2827

Flexies:

Place Name Glider Nation Time Total
1 BONDARCHUK Oleg Aeros Combat L UKR 02:48:02 962
2 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat L USA 02:49:45 922
3 OLSSON Andreas Wills Wing T2 154 SWE 02:49:46 919
4 ROTOR Nene Wills Wing T2 144 BRA 02:50:21 909
5 MARTIN Dustin Moyes Litespeed S4 USA 03:02:03 890
6 DURAND Jonny Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 03:02:44 878
7 CARTER Kevin Aeros Combat USA 02:53:07 875
8 BARRETT Scott Airborne Climax2 13 AUS 03:03:37 863
9 HAZLETT Brett Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 03:04:38 852
10 HEANEY Grant Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 03:05:54 831

Brett is Australian and Canadian.

Cumulative Flexies:

Place Name Glider Nation Total
1 DURAND Jonny Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 4636
2 BONDARCHUK Oleg Aeros Combat L UKR 4609
3 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat L USA 4527
4 BLOOM Phill Moyes Litespeed S4 USA 4218
5 MARTIN Dustin Moyes Litespeed S4 USA 4076
6 VOLK Glen Moyes Litespeed S4 USA 3844
7 OLSSON Andreas Wills Wing T2 154 SWE 3838
8 MULLER Chris Wills Wing T2 CAN 3782
9 BARBER Mike Moyes Litespeed S4 USA 3750
10 ANDERSON Hakan Aeros Combat L13 SWE 3561

The weather is so fine as Jonny Durand shows in his photo:

2005 Flytec Championship, day six

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Brett Hazlett|Bruce Barmakian|Chris Muller|Davis Straub|Dr. John "Jack" Glendening|Dustin Martin|Felix Ruehle|Flytec Championships 2005|Glen Volk|Jacques Bott|Jim Lamb|Johann Posch|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Kevin Carter|Mike Barber|Nichele Roberto|Oleg Bondarchuk|Paris Williams|Phill Bloom|Robert Reisinger|Ron Gleason|Russell "Russ" Brown|weather

Wed, Apr 20 2005, 5:00:00 pm EDT

Under called on a great day, but that makes most happy.

Flytec Championship

Today's flight and rigid wing task

The day started with thick clouds covering the sky until mid morning. This made the pilots wary. I knew from the forecast that these clouds would go away and the day would be sunny.

Dr. Jack, using the RUC (Rapid Update Cycle) model, called for a day like any other here recently with lighter winds (5 mph) out of the southeast, and maybe a cloud or two unlike the previous days where we saw nothing but wispies. The National Weather Service mentioned cirrus again, as we've had for the last two days. But there was a fly in the ointment.

The FSL chart completely disagreed with the RUC model. It called for cunimbs,and strong lift (even though the local forecast showed no rain). The winds on the FSL chart also rotated ninety degrees from northeast on the ground to southeast at 6,000' cloud base. But we were seeing light southeast on the ground.

Given the conflict in the models, the task committee called for a task that was 20% longer than the day before hoping for a three hour task. The winds in the launch field were switchy with a few bad tows.

Later in the morning the cirrus began to disappear and it looked like it would clear off completely. The satellite also showed this with clearing to the west.

The cu's were forming nicely and thickly throughout the sky (give that one to the FSL model) and this was very inviting. The winds were light. Lots of pilots wanted to launch early so I had to wait a bit to get launched. The lift over the field was not that great and all the lift we found in the start circle was weak. Jim Lamb was pulled way north, found 700 fpm, unlike the rest of us, and climbed to cloudbase immediately. He had to come back and hang with the rest of us who worked less than 100 fpm to get to cloud base. The clouds looked great, but it felt like they were faking it. The lift was so weak we struggled to get to cloudbase at 5,200'.

We were five miles north of Quest at the edge of the start circle. The course line was to our west.  It was unclear what would happen at 1:45 the first start time. A few people headed out. I headed out then came back. More people headed out. I followed Robert Reisinger as he headed out, as my strategy for the day was to stick to Robert. Then he turned around and came back. Now there were only three of us left out of the main gaggle: Robert, Ron Gleason, and me.

We promptly fell down to 3,000' before we found 200 fpm (what luck) at the same spot we started with the original gaggle. As fifteen minutes slipped by we climbed back up to 4,800', all three of us very near each other in altitude. It looked like everyone else took the early start clock. We were feeling pretty darn smart.

Felix Ruehle, who was on top at 1:45, also turned around after going out a bit, but didn't find any lift and had to land back at Quest and relaunch fourteen minutes after the last start time. He would be on his own after that.

At 2 PM we headed off together spreading out to help each other find the lift. With the mostly weak lift that we'd experienced we were not expecting much out on the course. We quickly caught up with a couple of stragglers from the earlier clock. 

The lift wasn't all that great. I was gliding and climbing with Robert, but Ron couldn't glide with us. Something is wrong with his setup. Robert and Ron will swap gliders in the morning and do some side by side comparisons to get to the root of the problem.

I had no worries staying with the Robert all the way to the turnpoint as we caught one pilot after another. The lift wasn't strong at all, but we were moving quickly from thermal to thermal.

Finally, after the turnpoint 34 miles north northwest of Quest at Savana air strip, I found the first good core and climbed from 2,600' at 600 fpm with Robert twenty feet over my head. I lost track of him in this thermal and I was on my own to get back home. Ron Gleason took a different line and met us there.

A few miles out from the turnpoint there was a cloud street paralleling the Florida Turnpike heading back toward Groveland. I got under it, climbed up fast and road that sucker all the way home. Johann Posch and Ron Gleason as well as a few others followed behind.

After I landed I found out that we weren't the only ones to take the later clock. The others were hiding more on the course line to our west. Robert apologized for not finding better lift. The others had a much better run down to the turnpoint than we did. Robert would pick this day to go slower (well, it wasn't that bad).

Rigids today:

Place Name Glider Nation Start Time Total
1 GRICAR Primoz Aeros Phantom SVN 14:00:00 02:05:02 948
2 REISINGER Robert AIR Atos VR AUT 14:00:00 02:05:55 913
3 YOCOM James AIR Atos VR USA 14:00:00 02:07:07 890
4 ENDTER Vincent AIR Atos VR USA 13:45:00 02:17:34 877
5 BARMAKIAN Bruce AIR Atos VR USA 14:00:00 02:10:28 847
6 ALMOND Neville AIR Atos V GBR 13:45:00 02:19:55 844
7 STRAUB Davis AIR Atos VR USA 14:00:00 02:10:51 839
8 BROWN Russell AIR Atos V USA 13:45:00 02:20:28 826
9 POSCH Johann Helite Tsunami AUT 14:00:00 02:14:50 800
10 BOTT Jacques AIR Atos VR FRA 14:00:00 02:14:54 796
11 GLEASON Ron AIR Atos VR USA 14:00:00 02:16:45 778

Rigid cumulative:

Place Name Glider Nation Total
1 REISINGER Robert AIR Atos VR AUT 3812
2 GRICAR Primoz Aeros Phantom SVN 3139
3 BARMAKIAN Bruce AIR Atos VR USA 3110
4 ALMOND Neville AIR Atos C GBR 2979
5 YOCOM James AIR Atos VR USA 2974
6 BOTT Jacques AIR Atos VR FRA 2928
7 ENDTER Vincent AIR Atos VR USA 2643
8 POSCH Johann Helite Tsunami AUT 2529
9 STRAUB Davis AIR Atos VR USA 2239
10 BUNNER Larry AIR Atos V USA 2166

Oleg Bondarchuck on an Aeros Combat won the day taking the second start time coming in first thirty seconds in front of Kevin Carter also on an Aeros Combat, who took the first start time. A couple of Wills Wing pilots made the top ten today with Nick in second. Jonny grabbed the bag at the finish line for the third day in a row, coming in third. He won one hundred dollars grabbing the bag on the first day.

Kevin hyper extended his leg on landing, so we'll see what happens tomorrow. Russell Brown broke a couple of toes before the meet and is still flying.

Paris Williams after not flying for a while, is doing very well.

The task for the flex wings was shorter at 60 miles. They flew northwest out to Coleman, south back to the top of the Green Swamp, north again to Center Hill and then 12 miles southeast to Quest.

Flex wings:

Place Name Glider Nation Time Total
1 BONDARCHUK Oleg Aeros Combat UKR 01:51:35 957
2 NICHELE Roberto Wills Wing T2 144 CHE 01:53:48 908
3 DURAND Jonny Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 01:53:57 903
4 HAZLETT Brett Moyes Litespeed 4 AUS 01:54:25 892
5 ZANETTI Marcelo Moyes Litespeed S5 USA 01:54:26 889
6 OLSSON Andreas Wills Wing T2 154 SWE 01:56:45 860
7 BAJEWSKI Joerg Moyes LS 4.5 DEU 01:57:57 841
7 CARTER Kevin Aeros Combat USA 02:07:06 841
9 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat L USA 01:58:06 838
10 VOLK Glen Moyes Litespeed USA 01:58:17 832

Flex wings cumulative:

Place Name Glider Nation Total
1 DURAND Jonny Moyes Litespeed S4 AUS 3752
2 BONDARCHUK Oleg Aeros Combat UKR 3647
3 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat L USA 3602
4 BLOOM Phill Moyes Litespeed 4 USA 3534
5 MARTIN Dustin Moyes Litespeed 4 USA 3186
6 VOLK Glen Moyes Litespeed USA 3096
7 BARBER Mike Moyes Litespeed USA 3078
8 MULLER Chris Wills Wing T2 CAN 2971
9 OLSSON Andreas Wills Wing T2 154 SWE 2918
10 BAJEWSKI Joerg Moyes LS 4.5 DEU 2869

As you can see from the times above, the tasks were under called given the great conditions. The clouds were much better than we thought at first. There was no over development. There were no cunimbs. Here's the BLIPSPOT for 4 PM at Groveland that I called up after I got back:

Dr. Jack is calling for zero lift at 4 PM and a high level of convergence and no surface heating (shade). The height of the -3 at 120 feet. In fact it was beautiful, sunny, warm, cu's every where. Pilots were piling into goal. Sixty flex wings made it back. All but one rigid wing made it back.

Here's the satellite photo showing cu's well up into Georgia:

Joerg Bajewski sends this photo from the air over Quest:

AIR ATOS VR »

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Felix Ruehle|Jim Lamb|photo|Ron Gleason

Thu, Apr 14 2005, 5:00:06 pm EDT

Rejoining the church of Felix Ruehle

After a blown out day yesterday we all got to try out our new VR's after a demonstration and lecture by Felix Ruehle on how to assemble the VR. I found out that you can pull the stinger,though it stays attached by the cord and bungees, to allow you to latch the two wings without additional help.

You can see a few photos that help explain how to set up an ATOS VR here.

I had a couple of sweet flights on my VR and low and behold I'm getting use to flying a rigid wing again. Unlike previous ATOSes the VR is very responsive and you can reverse a turn with a quick flip of the control bar. Turning it is merely a matter of thinking about turning (and a slight movement of the hands).

Ron Gleason had his VR flying at 90 mph with his hands at his chest. I found it easy to fly at 60 mph and it felt quite stable.

The VR has a moveable tail and a very large flap. These two innovations seem to make a significant difference in the speed range and handling of the VR relative to previous ATOSes. I hope to get many different reports over the next few days. Jim Lamb reported flying it with the bar above his head at 24 mph.

Oz Report Radio »

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Jim Lamb

Wed, Apr 13 2005, 4:00:02 pm EDT

The AIR ATOS VR

To see a list of and then listen to archived interviews on Oz Report Radio click here.

Jim Lamb, US distributor, talks about the new VR.

this is an audio post - click to play

Please send suggestions for interview subjects «here».

How to catch our Ozcasts.

AIR ATOS VR »

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Jim Lamb|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Quest Air|Robert Reisinger

Wed, Apr 13 2005, 3:00:00 am EDT

The demo flight.

Last night around midnight Jim Lamb pulled into Quest Air with a trailer behind his automobile stacked with four boxes of AIR ATOS VR's that he was able to coax out of the clutches of the US customs office in Miami. In the boxes were six production VR's, one  (mine) which had been test flown by Felix, five which needed to be further assembled and test flown, and two prototype VR's to be flown in the Flytec Championships by Robert Reisinger and Felix. Jim was on the phone to Felix this morning and found out that he wanted to be present when they set up the new VR's and to test fly them before anyone else. He'll be here tomorrow night. Test flights will occur the day before the meet.

After deciding that it wasn't a day to go 100 miles on a single surface glider, I set up my VR for a little task along with the students and instructors in the Flytec Clinic We were heading northwest twenty three miles up to Coleman, back southeast twelve miles to the Florida Turnpike and highway 33 intersection north of Quest thirteen miles and finally back to Quest. The problem was that the wind was predicted to be out of the south at 15 mph. Watching the clouds we convinced ourselves that this was not true. Unfortunately it was.

First a couple of aspects of the VR. It is built on the frame of the original small ATOS (beefed up). The aluminum tubes that come out of the carbon fiber ends of the d-cells are much longer than the ones found on the VX. They must be at least six feet. (I'll measure tomorrow). The VR has a "curved" tip wand, but it doesn't come out of the end of the aluminum tube leading edge, but about 18 inches back. The sail is square cut and attached by Velcro to a winglet tip which is also attached to the end of the aluminum tube with two pop pins.

The carbon fiber inserts that forms the leading edge around and in front of the outboard aluminum tubes are stored on the leading edge under the sail in a little sleeve. You just pull them out over the aluminum tube and attach to the Velcro at the end of the tube. Very slick and simple. Easy storage.

The stinger is permanently attached to the carbon fiber keel (I think this keel is an option, and one that I very much appreciate) . This is done so that the rope and bungee connecting the maneuverable V-tail doesn't have to be undone. This rope is connected to the flap cord, and when the flaps are pulled the back of the V-tail is rotated up.

The flaps are much longer and perhaps bigger than on the V. At least there is a lot more flap area. Makes it slightly more tricky to pack up the VR. The VR comes with the bigger bags (seems to be the ones for the V) so there is plenty of room (length wise).

The main spoileron (there are two spoilerons on each side) is smaller than on the V or VX. The smaller spoiler is activated by the main spoileron as on the VX.

Setup is a bit more difficult with the permanently attached stinger. I haven't figured out how you are supposed to get the nose latch latched without someone on the wing lifting it up and forward. There wasn't a tube that acts as a lever arm with the glider, so I made one up tonight. You have to get the latch half latched (so you can attach the trailing edge rings at the keel) and then fully latch it. There is supposed to be some little rope that helps this. It wasn't on mine so I jury rigged something. I'll know more on Thursday and report on my updated knowledge.

Generally the VR is a little more complicated to put together than the VX, which was a little more more than the V. Little bits add up, but still no big deal.

I haven't flown a rigid wing hang glider since last September, and though I knew I would have no problems flying it, I also knew that I wouldn't be as comfortable with it as I was with the Litespeed, U2, T2, Falcon or the Relax, which I've been really enjoying (except for the glides). The two glider types just have different characteristics.

Let me say that this is a very personal review, which has everything to do with my personal experience and I doubt that it will be of much general help.

First off, the AIR ATOS is very easy to tow off the shoulders because it has a lot less drag than the Attack Falcon. Fly the tug as fast as you want and I won't notice. The uncomfortable part for me was the control bar position and feel. The control frame on a rigid wing is just unconnected from the glider and you feel that unconnectedness (well, I do). The control frame just doesn't give me a solid feel.  I would appreciate such a feel and relax more on tow.

Sure, while towing the Relax from my shoulders, I have to stuff the bar, but I know that there is a lot of bar pressure. On the ATOS the bar is about at my neck, and there is little to no bar pressure. Easy but I keep getting the feeling that the glider just wants to go over. Silly me.

The control bar position on the AIR ATOS in general is further back than what you find on a flex wing glider. I've written about this before. I would personally feel more comfortable if the bar was placed further out.  That's just the way I feel about it. I don't like pulling the bar so far back (feels to me like it will keep right on going back). Actually there is plenty of bar pressure (most of the time) when the bar is way back.

The AIR ATOS VR is easy to thermal and turn. Seems as easy as the single surface gliders. Just flick the control frame to one side. I'll have to work some more to get comfortable again with getting the right bank angle and getting the glider in a carving turn groove. It just feels different than the flex wings. I didn't climb through anyone or as well as anyone.

The glide is awesome. I have no way to tell (yet) whether it is better or equal to the VX. No turns. Just let off the flap cord, putting five degrees of negative flap in, and the VR is off to the races. It's trimmed at 45 mph for me. Jacque Bott's was trimmed at 55 mph for him until he moved the hang point back. My hang point is centered at 5 1/4. Hook in weight 100 kilos.

The flaps (and the moveable V-tail) make a huge difference in trim speed. It is harder to pull the flaps on due to the moveable V-tail, but still quite possible. At first I flew with the flaps on a lot just because I wanted more bar pressure. Later I released them on glide. The difference is dramatic. I would put in a bit of flaps whenever I entered a zone of lift to slow down and feel the lift better (at slower speeds). Then more flaps when I cranked it up. This sure is easier than pulling in and pushing out.

The glider is so much faster than the Relax that I noticed the wind noise a lot more. I wish the wind noise was less. I really don't like wind noise.

I got tossed around a bit, but no real scares today, but all the other days in Florida this spring have been such pussy cats. Is it the glider or the day?

I wish I felt as comfortable in the VR (or any rigid) as I feel in the Attack Falcon or Relax, and why not? I think with the bar six inches further forward I would be cruising. Is that so hard?

Jonny Durand just north of Highway 50 northeast of Quest Air a couple of miles. I was flying with Jonny's crew again. I was the first pilot back to goal (see here)  as the instructors drug their students around the rather difficult course (given the wind).

I'll get David to put up a bunch of VR pictures later.

It's hot at ⁢Quest Air⁣ also »

The competitors and the Flytec Clinic are turning it into a jumping joint.

Quest Air

Fri, Apr 8 2005, 1:30:03 pm EDT

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Curt Warren|Foundation for Free Flight|Jacques Bott|Jim Lamb|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|photo|Quest Air|US Nationals

www.questairforce.com

This photo is by Jonny Durand and is of one of his students in the Flytec Clinic getting up over Quest Air. The photos looks to the east toward Clermont. Today the wind was out of the east northeast at about 8 mph.

Many of the competitors who will be flying in the upcoming US Nationals, pre-Worlds, and Flytec Championship are here and so the crew at Quest Air are no slouches when it comes to getting piles of pilots into the air fast. It's great to have two very successful flight parks so close to each other and in the heart of Florida.

There are twenty three students in the Flytec clinic, four or five for each instructor. Today most of them had no problem completing the short course twice launching around 2 PM in good conditions.

David will talk with Curt Warren the organizer of the Flytec Clinic on Oz Report radio tomorrow.

Jacques Bott is here with his new AIR ATOS VR. He wanted a smaller, lighter Tsunami, but not being able to get that, got a heavier, bigger, VR instead. He had his first flight this afternoon. It is quite a machine. Pictures later. Eight VR's are awaiting us in Miami. Jim Lamb went down today to pick them up.

Discuss "It's hot at ⁢Quest Air⁣ also" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Ultra Light Gliders

Sat, Apr 2 2005, 3:00:04 am EST

The Smithsonian's article on ultralights.

Carbon Dragon|Gary Osoba|Jim Lamb|sailplane

Jim Lamb «jlamb» writes:

There’s a very nice article in the May issue of Air & Space, Smithsonian’s magazine on Ultralight Gliders that features the contributions of our good friend Gary Osoba and others. It covers very well some of the aircraft – the LightHawk, Carbon Dragon, Archaeopteryx, etc. You'll find it here.

Discuss ultra light sailplanes at the Oz Report forum

AIR ATOS VR »

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Jim Lamb

Fri, Mar 25 2005, 3:00:01 pm EST

DHV pitch tests completed.

Jim Lamb «jlamb», US importer of AIR products, writes:

Load and pitch tests are done, successfully. The DHV pilot still needs to fly it, but things look great. Christoph is clearly still up in the air a little about how many gliders will arrive in time for the Flytec Championships. I remain optimistic.

(editor's note: I hear six will make it.)

Discuss ATOS VR at the Oz Report forum

Flying below and behind Alex

Mon, Oct 18 2004, 8:00:03 pm EDT

Flying fast on a glider/pilot combination with a better glide ratio.

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Eric Paquette|Jim Lamb|Johann Posch|Quest Air

Thanks to Jim Lamb, who sent me Alex Ploner's track logs (IGC files) from the 2004 Flytec Championships, I had a chance to look in detail at Alex's and my track logs for the third day of the competition where we flew to the north from Quest Air and turned at Idyllwild to return back to the airport at Dunnellon. Alex was first on that day and I was fourth.

I have vivid memories of this flight, most of which are of me looking ahead and up at Alex and David Chaumet as they lead throughout the task. I flew just behind them with Johann Posch and Eric Paquette: https://ozreport.com/8.084

I was very aware of the fact that during this task Alex and David didn't have to race ahead as fast as they could taking risks, as they were alone and in the lead and they knew it. Yes, they were flying against each other, but they saw a big benefit flying together ahead of everyone else, and there was no need for either of them to push it until the final glide.

As happen later at the Worlds in Austria, on this day Alex was gliding faster in sinking air than I (I'm only comparison I have for the Flytec Championship). Alex and Christen glided faster than all other pilots at the Worlds. On this day Alex flew on average at 45 mph through sinking air while I flew at 40 mph. This difference is somewhat exaggerated as Alex flew much faster than I on his long final glide (55 mph Vs. 45 mph). Other than during the final glide, he glided through sinking air at two to three mph faster than I.

Not only did he fly faster but he had a better glide ratio when flying through sinking air. We basically flew through the same air as we were often very close. His average glide ratio was 12:1 Vs. 10:1 for me even though he was averaging five mph faster. He was sinking at an average of 337 fpm Vs. me at 367 fpm for me. It sure seems to me that Alex had a better glider (he had a new VX which I later bought Vs. my older C) and that he, as the pilot in the air stream, presented less drag.

While he and I spent about the same percentage of time gliding in rising air, my average rate of altitude gain when flying straight in rising air was 232 fpm, while Alex's was 280 fpm even while I was flying on average four mph slower in rising air than Alex did. Seems like this would also be explained by Alex's better glide ratio.

Overall Alex's average glide ratio was 17.8 at an average 44 mph. My average glide ratio was 13.6 at 39 mph. BTW, that VX has won every meet that its flown in. One for Alex and two for me.

War Chalking

Wed, Sep 22 2004, 3:00:05 pm EDT

Is it as free as the air?

Christopher Moody|insurance|Jim Lamb|Mike Hedblom

As we drove west on Interstate 80 from Jim Lamb's home in Marion, Iowa toward Tiki and Bart at Cowboy Up in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, I noticed a small sign under the Rest Area sign - free wireless access. Whoa! We had to stop there. I have written previously about how Texas was going to put free wireless access in all their rest areas, but this was the first I'd seen of it any where and here it was in Iowa.

Yes, it actually worked great right from the truck. We had to sign up on-line, but it was free and fast. Here is a directory of hot spots: http://www.ispotaccess.com/Directory.asp

 Mike Hedblom «mhedblom» writes:

Very interesting article on the legalities of war chalking here. Also, you might want to read this amusing story.

"It's a new law, sir; 'theft of signal.' " -- A Nantucket police officer explains a new federal law of his own engineering forbidding use of an open wireless signal in a public place.

Whitewater Flyers

Fri, Sep 17 2004, 3:00:00 pm EDT

It's a club now.

Brad Kushner|Dragonfly|Jim Lamb|John Gamble|sailplane|weather

Dale Maas was towing up just as we arrive at the Twin Oaks air field. He wouldn't be able to fly on the weekend, a weekend that promised sunny warm weather, so he had left his bootery business early and caught an afternoon flight in punchy air. Yup, things were going great here in Whitewater on a beautiful Friday afternoon.

The local pilots have formed a club, the Whitewater Hang Gliding Club and they hold the lease to the landing field and a hangar. Tommy Thompson has formed Freeflight Aviations to do tandem flights and instruction at the air field. Army Bob is working for him as an instructor on the training hill. Tim Thompson, who was towing us up at the Florida Ridge, has formed Dragonfly Sports LLC is bought a Dragonfly from Raven Hang Gliding (Brad Kushner's former operation here) and is doing the towing for the tandem operation and for the club. Club members financed the purchase of the Dragonfly

Brad Kushner is still marketing tandem Discovery flights at Raven Hang Gliding, booking the clients and sending them to Tom (and taking 1/3rd of the fee). Freeflight Aviations has a small well equipped office/trailer on site at Twin Oaks with a great view of the LZ and the operations from the command desk.

Tom and Tim have carted away the junk (rusting hulks of machinery) that the airport owner collected on site, so that the place is looking positively respectable. There is a nice camp fire area with a well stacked load of wood for those cool Wisconsin evenings (I never understood bonfires in Florida). Tim has put in a very cool simulator. I jumped into the control frame and practiced my monkey bar landings.

There are sixty five club members and each one of them pays $150/year to belong to the club. This pays the lease for the air field and the hangar. The air field owner provides the mower and the gas for keeping the field looking good, and Tim and Tom are responsible for mowing. Tim charges $10/thousand feet of towing.

There were a couple of pilots in the air when we arrived at about 4 PM, and there were three tandems scheduled for late in the afternoon. Saturday evening was fully booked and Tom was scheduling more tandems for Saturday morning. It looks like there will be plenty of pilots here for the weekend.

There is a very inexpensive mobile home/RV park just down the street from the air field. We are staying here for $15/night.

On Saturday the field filled up with students and pilots. Many were running down the training hill. There are fifteen new students this year with eight of them now club members. The future looks good.

Tom said that after making it through this cold and wet season, if they can do that, then everything else will look good. They've been very busy the last two weekends.

The air field owner is committed to aviation. He is getting along well with the hang gliding club and Tom and Tim. The place is looking very nice. Jim Lamb and others have spoken to the owner about putting the property into a land trust so that it can stay as an air field into the future. He has spoken with his lawyers about this and this is a possible course.

I got to speak at length with John Gamble who was flying his Arienne Swift (not Swift Light). He even had a trailer specifically set up to haul the Swift behind his car. It looked just like a sailplane trailer.

It was a bit windy Sunday so we headed out and hooked up with Jim Lamb in Marion.

Discuss Whitewater Flyers at the Oz Report forum

Winning and Losing in Big Spring, part 7 »

Mon, Aug 30 2004, 2:00:01 am EDT

The good lift comes back to Big Spring.

Big Spring 2004|Jim Lamb

With a good chance of over development near Big Spring we called a straight line task to the south in light southerly winds. Bruce, Campbell, Mark, Jim Lamb and I all got to cloud base at the edge of the start circle just before the start window opened. 

I headed off first on my own straight down the course line.  Mark followed a bit over me and pulled in to catch up. Bruce and Campbell headed southwest off to the right to get under better clouds but off the course line. Jim followed Mark and I but lost ground due to higher drag.

The lift was weak at first on the course line and the clouds thinner than off to the right. Mark and I struggled a bit as Mark came over my head on glide and climbed higher in the next two thermals. He was out in front a mile and going on a long glide. I didn't like the looks of this and held back in weak lift to see what he would do.

He got low, but finally found good lift and I went to come in underneath him. This put him a few miles in front of me and I could use him to spot thermals for the next couple of thermals before he got further ahead and out of sight.

Mark out on his own went on another long glide and almost landed (haven't we heard this before), while I worked strong lift as the course line got much better. Getting high and staying under cloud streets I was able fly fast from high up between thermals and on final glide, while Mark had to slowly dig himself out of his self made hole.

Coming into goal first with one day left I was now 500 points in front of Mark who can passed Bruce. Bruce had taken the longer route and he was almost twenty minutes behind me. Campbell had gone down not willing to stay in light lift when he needed to. Jim Lamb made goal but more than an hour late.

(To be continued.)

Winning and Losing in Big Spring, part 3 »

Wed, Aug 25 2004, 2:00:01 am EDT

You're low, you're slow, there's guys on the ground below, it's time to climb in anything as it drifts you back away from the next turnpoint, besides the air is friendly and its temperature pleasant.

Big Spring 2004|Brett Hazlett|Curt Warren|Jim Lamb|Mark Poustinchian|Phill Bloom|Ron Gleason|US Nationals 2004

There are times when everything seems to be going wrong. Of course, while flying you don't have the complete picture so it is very hard to know for sure how well you are doing relative to everyone else. You just know that things have become quite difficult and you are wondering if the effort is worth it. Maybe it's the fast guys on the ground below you (hmmm, not likely).

The task on the second day of the US Nationals required flying back upwind against a wind that was quite a bit stronger than had been predicted, under cloud bases much lower than predicted, in lift much lower than predicted. The only hope was that things would get better as the day went on.

Mark Poustinchian put himself in a deep hole by heading out on his own after getting a good start getting higher than anyone else in the first thermal. He was in the same position I was the day before when I got high over Mark and Bruce and went off on my own, but on this day we had a much more difficult task. Just the kind of day you would like to have some help from your comepetitors.

Mark went off on his own and went down soon after the turnpoint at LaMesa where we had to turn around and head back into the wind, i.e. where the going got tough. Putting himself out of first place meant that later he would have to claw his way back to get into contention.

After catching and leaving Bruce behind before the turnpoint, I was also on my own and in trouble heading south under what looked like a cloud street. I searched far and wide getting down to 1,000' AGL, after an easy run forty three miles to the turnpoint, before I slowly climbed out in the worst lift of the flight so far drifting back toward the turnpoint. To add insult to injury when I pushed forward again I joined a poor thermal with Curt Warren and a few other flex wing pilots who had started thirty minutes behind us. Even though they were on their way to the turnpoint it felt hopeless.

I continued to fly on my own after leaving this thermal, going back and forth and getting low numerous times and only finding poor lift to get me out of these repeated holes that I found. I was not encouraged and had to keep doing self talk to keep myself going.

Finally, after an hour, I found a good thermal and climbed up to join Brett Hazlett, Phill Bloom, Curt Warren, and Jim Lamb. Jim was flying an AIR ATOS VX, and I knew that he generally flies slowly, so it looked like I was really in big trouble.

Jim went out a head while the rest of us continued to turn in the thermal that he left too early. I couldn't see why Jim made this error. After a few minutes of climbing higher I was easily able to catch Jim and come in over him before he got to the next thermal. He was clearly flying too slowly and had greater drag than I.

I pushed ahead pulling the flex wing pilots behind and below me finding better lift and flying faster than them. Jim was soon on the deck and landing by the second turnpoint.

The day had completely changed and everything was much stronger and better. Still I had to make the decision to race sideways to get under a cloud to find lift before a final glide.  My final decision was to continue to climb in strong lift and come into goal way too high, given all the uncertainly I had faced throughout the flight.

Ron Gleason won the day after he started fifteen minute behind and hooked up with Kraig and Paris. But, given not making goal the day before he was in no position to challenge for the lead. Bruce came in an hour later, dropping him further back.

After the second task I was in first place. It was a great place to start from. I would now need to think about how other pilots were doing relative to me.

Mark Poustinchian had made a crucial and characteristic mistake. He'd gone off on his own and the odds caught up with him. Sure I'd been on my own at least as much as him, but I was more cautious when on my own. I didn't race ahead, but slowed down when it got tough.

Alex and Christian flew fast and together. They doubled their chances because they were cooperating and could therefore afford to fly faster, with less caution. When Alex was flying in Florida without Christian in Florida, he was often flying with David Chaumet his fastest competitor there.

Competition in hang gliding relies on cooperation. This is true no matter what kind of competition that you have. I've flown on my own in many competitions and especially in the Chelan Cross Country Classic, but this is most often true because there were few pilots who could keep up with me. With higher level competitors, you find yourself with more gliders in your neighborhood (or way ahead).

(To be continued.)

AIR ATOS VX

Tue, Aug 17 2004, 3:00:01 am EDT

A few tips. DHV certification.

Bob Lane|Dustin Martin|Felix Ruehle|Jim Lamb|Pat Denevan|US Nationals|Vince Endter

Want to keep the tip from scuffing? Put just a little Shoe GOO on the bottom surface. If you are dragging the tip around a lot on an asphalt surface you may need to add more, often.

I mentioned earlier the fact that Felix Ruehle flew with an extended extended stinger on his VX at the Worlds in Austria. The VX already has an extended stinger relative to the V (although you can special order the V with an extended stinger) and Felix was checking out the further extension. Felix loved it.

AIR sent me an extension for my VX extended stinger (the standard stinger on the VX). It is a 295 mm or 11 3/4" long.

I didn't add the extension to my stinger at the US Nationals as I was in the middle of a competition and didn't have the proper amount of time to do it right (drill the extra holes and line up the stabilizer with the wings). Hopefully, I will have a chance soon.

I also didn't feel any great need to have it on in Big Spring as the air was so nice.  Perhaps I will be someplace where I really wish I had it.

The first ribs on my VX were being slightly crushed by the downtubes, just like they are on the V and C (thanks to Vince for checking this out). This happens when you let the downtubes flop from side to side when packing up the ATOS. You can prevent it by holding the down tubes vertical when putting them away.

To repair the downtubes (which suffer only very minor damage) you can put a bit of carbon fiber over the crush point and then put heat shrink over the repair.

AIR makes and sells a repair kit that has carbon fiber in tubular form which makes it easy to do this as well as the properly sized heat shrink. Contact your local AIR ATOS dealer or Bob Lane at QuestAir (www.questairforce.com) on the east coast and Pat Denevan on the west coast to order the ATOS repair kit. Jim Lamb and Mark P. should be able to get it for you also.

On my last flight in Zapata, I took out my first ATOS down tube. The weaklink was just fine.

Putting an asymmetrical load on the control frame by taking out one down tube (or even bending one normal weak link) can put a torque load on the base tube which can split/separate the top and bottom halves of the base tube.

The base tube halves are only glued (epoxied) together. There are no strands of carbon fiber running from top to bottom, so this is a (designed?) weak point. I have now seen numerous ATOS base tubes that have been repaired (which is easy to do) to fix this problem.

Older ATOS carbon fiber base tubes would break at the spot where AIR cut into the carbon fiber to place the cleat. According to Vince Endter, AIR redesigned how they attached the cleat after he discussed this weak point with them. I haven't seen any of the newer ATOS base tubed break at the cleat point.

I easily fixed my base tube (and the down tube), but at first I didn't even notice that there was a problem. It took Dustin Martin's sharp eyes to see the little crack and then when we put weight on the base tube we could see the split along the front edge that would widen as we placed more weight on it.

I now have plenty of carbon fiber connecting the top and bottom pieces of the base tube, so my repaired base tube is probably stronger than the new version. Doesn't look quite as nice though.

I have a prototype AIR ATOS VX, which used the V version of the control frame. According to Felix, the other VX's that have been shipped to the US have a beefier control frame. After all, the VX is built for tandem and weighs 11 more pounds that the V.

I will review the new beefier control frame when it arrives.

BTW, VX's are now DHV certified

US Nationals »

Wed, Aug 4 2004, 6:00:00 pm EDT

Weak lift on a blue day.

Brett Hazlett|Bruce Barmakian|Campbell Bowen|Curt Warren|Davis Straub|Dr. John "Jack" Glendening|Dustin Martin|Gary Osoba|James Lamb|Jim Lamb|Jim Yocom|Kevin Carter|Kraig Coomber|Larry Bunner|Mark Poustinchian|Mike Barber|Paris Williams|Rich Burton|Ron Gleason|Russell "Russ" Brown|US Nationals|Vince Endter|weather

Interactive real time pages with a map of the area.

Another option to try. Also  http://aprs.net choose the central map then you can zoom in the action at W9if.

Pilots near goal.   Pilots will be using kf4nsp-1 through kf4nsp-7, click on the icon to see name of pilot.

Alternative way to watch:

Click on any of the pilots

KF4NSP Kevin Carter
KF4NSP-1 Paris Williams
KF4NSP-2 Curt Warren
KF4NSP-3 Brett Hazlett
KF4NSP-4 Kraig Coomber

Meet page.

Results.

Curt has a few words and pictures daily, during the Nats at: www.WarrenWindsports.com.

Today's task and flight.

On Sunday my climb rate on the task was 329 fpm, on Monday, 295 fpm, on Tuesday 245 fpm, and today it was 179 fpm. Things are getting lighter and lighter out here. And today except for the massive cu nimbs 150 miles to the north, north of Lubbock, there were no clouds at all here.

Today the weather models were confusing, because it wasn't clear when the front that was 150 miles to the north would come down here. The FSL RUC did call for a blue day, but it had been under calling the moisture so it was hard to know if it should be trusted.

Dr. Jack was calling for strong (700+ fpm) lift, which proved to be completely off base. But he did get the fact that it was a blue day correctly.

Gary Osoba does no better, calling for better lift than the previous days, and cloud base to 8,500', when we were lucky to finally get to 7,400' when we actually found 400 fpm. I was left to throw up my hands saying that it looked to me like we wouldn't get any higher than we had over the past three days.

We moved everything back based on Gary's advice that things will improve dramatically after 2 PM, which turns out not to be true. The start time for the rigids was 2 PM and for flex wings 2:30 to 3 PM.

We started launching about 1:15 PM and my track log shows that after getting off tow I spent the whole time circling and very slowly drifting toward the five mile start circle and very slowly climbing to 6,800'. There were ten rigid wing pilots with me including Mark Poustinchian, Vince Endter, Russell Brown, Ron Gleason, Bruce Barmakian, Campbell Bowen, Denny Mallett, Jim Yocom, Jim Lamb, and Rich Burton. We were all hanging together in very light lift and waiting until the 2 PM start time.

It was a day that hanging todaywass one every one's mind. Gaggle flying was the order of the day as finding lift would be much easier if we were flying together and helping each other out. Everyone was aware of this and was acting thusly.

Bruce was climbing well just getting above me near the start time along with Denny Mallett in his VX. We all head edoff together. I went out in front with Mark and at nine miles out from the start circle found the first good thermal at 1,500' AGL.

We all continued to keep in visual contact with each other without any clouds to help us know where the lift was organized. Only able to climb to about 6,500' MSL (3,500'- 4,000' AGL), we were continually threatened with the chance of landing getting down to 1,600' a couple of more times.

Our task was a mere 63 miles miles out to the north. At 37 miles out the ten of us came together again, when we saw Mark circling low by himself just ahead of the rest of us. After getting up, Mark, followed by Denny, Russell, and Campbell, headed north northwest toward more cultivated lands. The rest of us headed due north on course over scab lands with few roads but the promise of hot rocks and better lift than the plowed areas.

This promise turned out not to be fulfilled. At 47 miles out we were down to 1,600' and working light lift. Ron got a little too low and landed. Yocom and I worked the lift and later we were joined by Bruce and Vince. We slowly got out of the bad lands and headed for the cultivated and green areas  to the north toward goal.

I had a few hundred feet on Bruce at this point and I was determined to maintain my advantage the rest of the way. Seven miles from goal we found our first good thermal of the day. We climbed at 400 fpm to 7,400'. It wa a 20 to one glide to goal.

Bruce and I went on glide toward goal. At 11 miles out we found enough lift to climb again and leaft together with a 16:1 glide to goal. We were pulled in and flying fast at 57 mph. I was about five seconds behind but 200' above Bruce.

At 3 miles out at 1,200' AGL we stopped again for light lift gaining two hundred feet while drifting closer toward goal. Then Bruce pulled in and I followed at 61 mph, a few seconds behind. We were flying fast and I was trying just to keep up with Bruce.

At a half mile before the goal cylinder Bruce suddenly slowed up so that he could clear a phone line on the south end of the airport. I passed him quickly and got to the goal cylinder two seconds in front of him.

Mark and Denny finding better lift on the cultivated fields to our west were able to get much higher than us while we were struggling just to stay up and beat us by seven or eight minutes into goal. We were followed by Jim Yocom, Vince, and Jim Lamb.

The flex wings didn't start until their last time at 3 PM. It was an hour after we started and we had all broken down and about to go home when we heard that they are coming in. Like us they had all been flying together in one big gaggle, just as we did, not finding any better conditions and actually flying slower than us.

Curt Warren was the first pilot in, followed by Phil Bloom and Kraig Coomber. I also saw Paris, Dustin, Kevin, Jerz, Mike Barber, Larry Bunner, Brett, Robin, Terry and others. The full results should be up tomorrow.

My guess on the cumulative rigid standings:

Place Name Glider
1 STRAUB Davis AIR ATOS VX
2 BARMAKIAN Bruce AIR Atos C
3 YOCOM James AIR ATOS V
4 POUSTICHIAN Mark AIR ATOS VX
5 MALLETT Denny AIR ATOS VX
6 ENDTER Vincent Icaro Stratos
7 LAMB James AIR ATOS VX

 Discuss US Nationals at the Oz Report forum

Lighthawk - it's a dream »

Wed, Jun 23 2004, 5:00:02 am EDT

Number two soon.

Galen Fisher|Jim Lamb|Lighthawk|sailplane

Jim Lamb «jlamb» writes:

I thought it might be timely to provide an update on the LightHawk. N-101LH (the first Lighthawk) has been flying for awhile, but not as much as we’d like. The glider is owned by Galen Fisher, an ex-hang glider pilot and sailplane instructor at Hemet. Galen is on his way to the Netherlands for a nine month assignment before he decides whether or not to stay and so the glider is getting a lot of trailer time! N-102LH looks to be completed by late summer – early fall. Danny Howell and small crew of volunteers continue to work steadily.

The glider has been designed to be the evolutionary follow-on to the Carbon Dragon. A very technical, low sink, small turning radius glider. It has more span and more wing surface than the SparrowHawk which some people confuse it with. Different gliders, different missions, and very different construction methodology. Here are some of the flight parameters that we’re actually achieving with this glider:

Sink rate: 78 fpm straight ahead, smooth air, 165 lb. pilot

Best L/D: 39-40:1 @ 36mph the calculations say 41:1, but this is what we’re seeing

Stall speed: 22 mph

VNE: 100 mph

The glider has a three section flaperon that is differentially effective across the span to allow an incredible turning radius. The airfoil is very sophisticated as are the molds and lay up schedules. These pictures should provide some hint of the finish quality and the above flight parameters:

Originally the glider was targeted for the 155 lbs. Several factors have affected that raising the current weight to 200+ lbs. Hull insurance requires an ‘N’ number taking away some advantage.

More importantly, there is a wing change in the works (and very close) that will take the sink rate very close to the ‘ultimate achievable sink rate (everyone believes)’ of 60 fpm  The first two airframes are designed to support that. That sink rate is 3,600 ft. per hour or ¾ of a mph. Normal walking pace is about 4 mph. Stay tuned! This will obviously also increase the glide.

The next picture shows the spoilers added to the full span flaperons for glide path control. We continue to debate if a Schempp-Hirth type of dive brake is advantageous, but currently we continue on the path to include the brakes.

The handling is reported superb, a ‘dream to fly’. Perhaps I’ll have a first hand account later this year. You can see more at http://www.glidersport.net/.

I believe I can foot-land it in nil wind, I just don’t think I can bring myself to cut the Bay Doors in.

Discuss the Lighthawk at the Oz Report forum

Flytec Championship - day six »

Wed, Apr 21 2004, 7:00:00 pm GMT

A new air mass.

the competition

Flytec Championship - day six

Chris Muller|Christoph Lohrmann|cloud|communication|competition|Flytec Championships 2004|Flytec Championships 2005|Jim Lamb|Jim Yocom|Kevin Carter|Kraig Coomber|PG|photo|radio|Ron Gleason|Tim Ettridge|weather

http://olc.onlinecontest.org/olcphp/2004/ausw_fluginfo.php?ref3=4274&ueb=N&olc=holc-usa&spr=en&dclp=d541cda3b5bfd158c1613bcacda1b61e

Today my weather forecast was almost completely wrong. I got the fact that we had cirrus cloud overhead right (all I had to do was look up). I got the fact that there were plenty of bands of cirrus clouds on the way (I looked at the satellite photos). I got the fact that the winds were going to be out of the south a little than less than 10 mph.

But it appears that a whole different air mass came in than was forecast. I called for no clouds, and there were clouds soon after I called for that. The FSL chart must have been for another air mass as it showed the cloud base way above the top of the lift and the air being much drier than it appeared. I wonder what went wrong.

Dr. Jack, using the RUC model, also called for 600 fpm lift and top of the lift at 6,200' at 2 PM going to 7,500' at 5 PM. We did find some good lift, but I don't recall a lot of strong thermals.

As the launch open time approached the cirrus covered the sky, but there were cu's everywhere but especially to the south where the cirrus was just reaching. But even under the cirrus there were thick cu's.

The task committee has called a 120 kilometer out and return to the northwest, but we get back together again and decide that the day just looks too iffy for getting back against the wind for a long leg. We finally pick Coleman and back, 44 miles. It is great to have this flexibility to change the task based on the actual conditions that we are seeing.

As we get ready to launch at 1:15, the conditions change again with cirrus and dark clouds to our south, blue to the north with cu's forming well there. We are towed upwind under the dark cu's and cirrus, only to find light lift. Most of us climb up at 100 fpm for fifteen minutes drifting down wind to the north. This is the only thermal we'll take in the approximately five mil area before the start of the start cylinder.

Five of us including David Chaumet, Jim Yocom, and Jim Lamb head north and out of the start circle at 1:45 for the first start time. Jim Lamb goes out very low and finds lift lift at what must be about 500'. David is also low and searching over Jim. The rest of us huddle together and stay in zero sink for five minutes waiting for something to happen.

Finally it really turns on over Jim and we find the best thermal of the day at 600 fpm to cloud base at 5,200'. This allows us to go back at 2 PM and take the second start time. Ron Gleason is still over Quest trying to get over 3,000'. He'll end up spotting us sixteen miles.

It's up and down with no steady lift getting to Coleman twenty three miles to the northwest of Quest. It is not until we get close to Coleman that I find good lift and climb out with Jim Yocom. Our team is in radio contact so we've got an idea what's happening with the lift in the area.

Now its a struggle to get back up wind and we have to be cautious taking lift that just isn't that great. We find lift going over the prison and along the forest/swamp to the south of the prison, but it is broken and poor.

Christoph Lohrmann and I go on a four mile glide down to 900' over the sludge field where we towed up the paraglider pilots last year. You can tell that there is going to be lift there and we find it alright. This gets us to 4,500', not cloud base, but better than what we had behind us.

A five mile glide gets us and the flexies that have joined us eleven miles out, but we find weak lift. I'm still running and sliding to the east. Chris Muller is on my left and I don't see him. He sees me and decides to dive in under me to show me that he is there. He's about ten feet away under me when I see him. Pretty cool.

Chris and I go on a glide to the east and don't find anything. Christoph goes right and gets in with Jim Yocom, Ron Gleason, and Jim Lamb and others as they slowly climb out. It will take two more thermals for them to make it into goal. Nene and Kevin Carter will come in and join us in our big field.

It was great to be able to call a task that was very makeable, given the very iffy nature of the day. Kraig Coomber and Didier Mathurine are great to work with. Didier has provided great communication from the French team and I sure hope that they feel included.

Christopher Lohrmann from AIR is having a great time here. Photo by Tim Ettridge.

Photo/Caption contest »

Mon, Nov 17 2003, 2:00:07 pm EST

calendar|Dave Brandt|Davis Straub|Jim Lamb|John Corry|photo|record

Dave Brandt « dave» writes:

 

In keeping with the current theme of ugly landings on Airwave gliders, here is a photo of Jim Lamb bracing for impact at Lookout. I think he was about 20' +/-, he floated way down to the end of the LZ and pounded in hard. Jim has a bit of a reputation for, "less than graceful" landings. We always give him a hard time for it.

Discuss photos at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Short control frames

Fri, Sep 19 2003, 3:00:03 am EDT

James "Jim" Lamb|Jim Lamb

Jim Lamb <jlamb@inav.net> writes:

It clearly is difficult to shape a downtube and take it out of column. How about providing a strap between downtubes that would carry the load over the shoulders much like a backpack? If the fitting between the each end of the strap and the downtube was merely a pressure fitting that slid up and down, the adjustment could easily be made to any size pilot. Simple, inexpensive.

Discuss control frames at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Discuss "Short control frames" at the Oz Report forum   link»

For Sale – Raven Sky Sports »

Sun, Sep 7 2003, 3:00:04 am EDT

Brad Kushner|Dragonfly|For Sale|Jim Lamb|Raven Sky Sports|Terry Kramer

Brad Kushner, Pres. Raven Sky Sports, Inc. Twin Oaks Airport P. O. Box 101 Whitewater, WI 53190 (262) 473-8800 office and voice mail (262) 903-8800 cell «Brad» www.hanggliding.com

Burn-out happens. I've been fighting it for many years, but late this summer, I experienced 'the straw that broke the camel's back.' I'm looking to pass the ownership of Raven Sky Sports, Inc. (in Whitewater, Wisconsin) on to a new owner, or to a partnership of new owners. It's time for me to step down, and to change my lifestyle in several very important ways.

My reasons are many and varied, but the key ones are personal ones: health (mental and physical), finances, and a deep personal desire to see Team Raven continue to provide hang gliding opportunities, into the distant future, even if I can no longer be the one running the show any more. Somebody else will have to take over for Raven to continue.

The good news is, there are a number of Team Raven members who are actively involved in exploring the transfer of the company assets, stock, and operations to the yet-to-be-appointed new Board of Directors. I'm calling them the 'Transition Committee.' For the past week, there have been numerous discussions around the campfires, over dinners, and via telephone calls, amongst the Transition Committee (the core members of Team Raven). People are coming up with ideas, proposals, and potential solutions. Now, with this announcement, we're informing you and many others about this turn of events, and broadening the circle of involved pilots and club members that are privy to the process.

Please do anything and everything possible to stay informed about the process. If you have any interest in helping buy company stock and/or coming on board as an owner/operator, then let the Transition Committee know about your interests. If a few major investors come on board, or a lot of small investors, or some combination of both, then Raven will re-open for the spring under new ownership, on schedule, in March of 2004. In the meantime, we're planning to keep to a 'normal' flying schedule this autumn, through September, October, and November of 2003. The three-month winter break that we take every year will work to our advantage, and give us time to work out the details.

This is a very opportune time in Raven's 11-year history for such a change to take place. Raven will be virtually a turn-key operation for its new owners. We have a great facility, a great location, four Dragonfly tow planes, four tandem gliders on landing gear, a manmade training hill adjacent to the aerotow field, and everything else that is needed to operate a flight park.

We're well-known in the Midwest, and we've been meeting the public and distributing our advertising for many, many years. There is a steady flow of new customers who come out for introductory lessons and tandem 'discovery flights.' There is a steady clientele who come out frequently for personal flying. A large number of local Team Raven personnel want to continue working here, and so the key personnel positions of Hill Flying Instructors, Tandem Instructors, Tug Pilots, Ultralight Instructors, and Ground Crew will continue to be filled in the future by long-time local employees of the company.

Under new ownership and new management, the company will easily continue on, because so many people are eager and willing to work hard, to keep it going. What we need most at this time is new financial backing, and a Senior Manager who would assume the duties of sales, marketing, scheduling, and customer service.

Currently, the core of the Transition Committee are:

Terry Kramer, Janice Haraldson, Mark Furst, Jim Lamb

Please help keep Raven Sky Sports running by contacting one or more of these people. I expect that there will soon be a lot of discussion about this on our club newsgroup at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RavenSkySports .

Now is your chance to make a huge difference in the future of this flight park, one of the oldest and busiest hang gliding aerotow parks in the world

Discuss Raven Sky Sports at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

Midwest Regionals – cu nimbs and guys at goal

Sat, Jun 14 2003, 6:03:00 pm GMT

Aeros Combat|Aeros Combat 2|Airborne Climax|airspace|altitude|Bubba Goodman|Carl Wallbank|cloud|competition|Dave Brandt|James "Jim" Lamb|Jim Lamb|Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|Moyes Litespeed|Paris Williams|photo|Rik Bouwmeester|Ron Gleason|sport|tail|tow|Wills Wing|Wills Wing Talon

http://www.flytec.com/mwregionals

Check out the animated track logs (click “Top Tracks” - you have to wait for a few minutes for them to begin animating).

Check out the photo gallery (http://flytec.com/mwregionals/gallery.html)

The FSL forecast shows that there is the possibility of over development, but while I inform the task committee of this possibility I forget to mention it to the pilots. There is large patches of cirrus both north and south in the late morning, and the cu’s are forming slowly and they look soft and weak.

The wind dummies are up and staying up, so it’s a good sign. We’ve got the option of launching at 12:30 PM with a 2 PM start window (way more time than we need to get everyone in the air with four Dragonflies waiting to pull us up).

I notice that Jim Lamb is suiting up early and he’s thinking that its time to go soon after the launch window opens. The task is a 46 mile dog leg to the east south east, away from Class D airspace at Janesville and over to an airport at Monroe where hang gliding pilots use to truck tow.

The five rigid wing pilots all notice that Jim and Dave are getting ready so we all get ready and we are all in line together by ourselves as the flex wing pilots look on. No body wants to be left behind.

We’re up in a few minutes and it is a quick climb to cloud base at 4,400’. The flex wing guys get in line right behind us and everyone other than Paris who has been sitting around in a lawn chair is off before 1 PM. No waiting around today.

The cu’s get thicker and thicker and it looks like we won’t be waiting until the 2 PM start time. Dave Brandt heads out to the south and the rest of us rigid wing pilots up high follow him and Russell out toward the start circle. But Dave doesn’t get up and everyone but Russell turns back to get back up again with the flex wings.

Dave gets lower and lower out on his own, as he’s not willing to come back and join us low, and I’m wondering what the point is. This meet has taught us to work with our friends above all else, and I can’t figure out why Russell and Dave have gone out on their own, way early.

The rest of us are back working lift and getting back up to cloud base. We drift down wind under the clouds and get right up to cloud base and near the start circle circumference. I watch as Ron Gleason and Jim Lamb head out on course as I hold back. Three flex wings cross the line also. I wait and let them check out the lift out in front while I get to start my start time later than them.

Finally I head out and head right for the rigid wings who are five miles out. I get there with their altitude and I’m feeling great. We’ve got six guys together and it looks like we’ll have plenty of helpers.

Eleven miles out we encounter a large cu nimb just to our south. We are working on the northern edge of the cu nimb. The ground is completely shaded. The cu-nimb stretches to the west for another fifteen miles. Thank goodness we are just on the northern side of the cu-nimb and the winds are out of the northeast.

Brad sends over this graphic that shows the raining part of the cu-nimb.

We climb up slowly at first with everyone looking around. Jim and Ron are just above me climbing a little bit better. I have no idea where Russell is.

I’m looking back and seeing Rik Boumeester flashing his wings in a high bank. Ron and Jim who were just above me have gone further along the course line and don’t see Rik a few hundred feet behind us. I go over to him and soon Krzysztof Grzyb and I are two thousand feet over the five guys who’ve gone ahead.

The cu-nimb is right next to us as we head west quickly trying to run past it. Everything is as dark as can be, both the sky and the ground. We continue to find bits of lift on the edge of the cu-nimb and we can see the rain coming down five or ten miles to the south.

As we are circling up I see a lightening strike to the south about five miles away. I’m wondering if the cell is going to come our way. I can see that if we go another ten miles to the west we should be able to get around the storm. I’m hoping that there aren’t any gust fronts or more lightening.

I’m nervous about the storm so I’m leaving lift earlier than usual. I’m leaving everyone behind and I got out fast on my own hoping to get away from the storm. Whoa, I’ve caught up with Russell. I come in under a few hundred feet below him. It is great to be able to cover Russell.

We’re almost to the Albany turnpoint and I climb back to cloud base as Russell heads out. I can see a few of the guys I was with behind me getting up from below. I’ve got to hang with Russell now.

Things are happening fast as it is only an eleven mile leg to goal. I’m at 4,000’ AGL 14 miles out, three miles before the turnpoint. I’m hoping that this is enough with a good tail wind to make it to goal.

Nine miles out I see Russell come in a few hundred feet over my head. We work a bit of lift gaining two hundred feet. I can see the guys behind me at the turnpoint climbing high. Given how low they were when I left them, they must have found much stronger lift than I did.

Four miles out from goal I’m at 1,250’ AGL. That’s a 17:1 glide to goal, so I decide to take the weak lift I’m in and climb 500 feet. Russell continues on to goal to get there first. A few of the pilots behind me catch up and keep going just over my head.

I will have the extra 500’ when I get to goal with 500’ to spare.

Paris started late at 1:45 PM and wins the day getting to goal as the first flex wings. Ron gets across the goal line a few minutes before me. Bubba, Chris and later Dennis comes in.

All the times get moved to 2 PM as everyone started before the 2 PM start clock. The finish times just represent there total time to goal.

Flex wings today:

Place Name Glider Finish Total
1 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat 15:20:06 932
2 PAGEN Dennis Moyes Litespeed 15:34:24 776
3 GOODMAN Bubba Moyes Litespeed 4 15:35:28 756
4 GRZYB Krzysztof Icaro MRX700 15:36:56 742
5 MORRIS Dan Wills Wing Talon 464
6 BURICK Carl Airborne Climax 452
7 OLSSON Andreas Moyes Litespeed 4 420
8 PRESLEY Terry Moyes Litespeed 4 357
9 SAYER Wayne Moyes Litespeed 3 351
10 HAGEWOOD Robert Aeros Combat 2 327
11 CIZAUSKAS Rich Wills Wing FusionSP 258
12 DUGGAN Dan Icaro MR700WRE 68
13 BOUMEESTER Rik Aeros Stealth 59
14 GILLETTE Rhanor Wills Wing Ultra Sport 0

Flex wing totals:

Place Name Glider Total
1 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat 3556
2 PAGEN Dennis Moyes Litespeed 2997
3 OLSSON Andreas Moyes Litespeed 4 2987
4 PRESLEY Terry Moyes Litespeed 4 2899
5 GOODMAN Bubba Moyes Litespeed 4 2461
6 GRZYB Krzysztof Icaro MRX700 2209
7 SAYER Wayne Moyes Litespeed 3 1679
8 HAGEWOOD Robert Aeros Combat 2 1669
9 MORRIS Dan Wills Wing Talon 1416
10 BURICK Carl Airborne Climax 1378
11 CIZAUSKAS Rich Wills Wing FusionSP 1035
12 BOUMEESTER Rik Aeros Stealth 971
13 DUGGAN Dan Icaro MR700WRE 631
14 GILLETTE Rhanor Wills Wing Ultra Sport 409

Rigids today:

Place Name Glider Finish Total
1 GLEASON Ron AIR Atos C 15:35:27 986
2 STRAUB Davis AIR Atos C 15:36:03 930
3 BROWN Russ Flight Designs GhostBuster 15:45:16 793
4 LAMB James AIR Atos C 15:53:01 718
5 BRANDT Dave AIR Atos 274

Rigids total:

Place Name Glider Total
1 STRAUB Davis AIR Atos C 4076
2 BROWN Russ Flight Designs GhostBuster 3716
3 GLEASON Ron AIR Atos C 2815
4 BRANDT Dave AIR Atos 2262
5 LAMB James AIR Atos C 2210
6 BOWEN Campbell Flight Designs Axxess + 2026

Discuss "Midwest Regionals – cu nimbs and guys at goal" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Midwest Regionals – sunshine, cu’s, goal finishers

Fri, Jun 13 2003, 6:03:00 pm GMT

Aeros Combat|Aeros Combat 2|Airborne Climax|altitude|Bubba Goodman|Campbell Bowen|Carl Wallbank|cloud|competition|Dave Brandt|gaggle|James "Jim" Lamb|Jim Lamb|Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|Moyes Litespeed|Paris Williams|photo|polar|Rik Bouwmeester|Ron Gleason|Russell "Russ" Brown|safety|sport|tail|Terry Presley|triangle|Wills Wing|Wills Wing Talon

http://www.flytec.com/mwregionals

Check out the animated track logs (click “Top Tracks” - you have to wait for a few minutes for them to begin animating).

Check out the photo gallery (http://flytec.com/mwregionals/gallery.html)

While it has been great fun flying in overcast conditions here in Whitewater, Wisconsin (half way between Milwaukee and Madison in southern Wisconsin) today we were actually blessed with sunshine. While it has been a while since we’ve seen that luminescent orb during the flying part of the day, we quickly adjusted ourselves to the prospect of calling a task and having pilots actually make it back to goal.

There was a low pressure centered off to our southwest with an east/west front in Illinois. We could see the upper level clouds from the front overhead as the task committee met. The one o’clock BLIPMAP showed weak lift, and very low cloud bases but the 3 PM FSL chart showed good lift and high bases (4,000’ MSL). At least they both agreed that the winds would be light.

Given that we are conflicting forecasts for lift and heights we called two triangle tasks to the south (hoping for the flatter, hotter bare field to the south), one fifty miles and one thirty. A short time later Jim Lamb who had suggested we go south, thought better of his suggestion given that the southern sky had the high clouds and the weaker looking cu’s underneath. I came up with a 50 mile triangle task to the north and east.

As one o’clock rolled around the high clouds had disappeared as the front headed off to the south and east. There were cu’s ever where and it looked like it might be possible to go 50 miles, and not settle for a 32 mile out and return, which was now our secondary option.

I got towed up after Bo and immediately climbed out to 4,000’ MSL and cloud base. We were repeatedly able to touch the bottoms of the clouds today without any fear of being sucked up given the light lift.

The cu’s got big, and the ground got dark. In spite of all the sunshine it would have been good to use the yellow lens, but I had my orange ones.

Everyone was getting up under the dark cu’s and shaded ground and we all gathered up to take the first clock at 2 PM. Might as well if everyone else will go with you.

There is a northeast wind going to the first turnpoint, and we don’t get out very far as we find the first lift, after leaving the three mile radius start circle at cloud base. At 3:11 (four minutes before the next start window), we have drifted back right next to the start circle. Still no one goes back to take a new start time. Paris and a few others have been holding back and will take the 2:15 PM start time.

Half the field is with us as we head out after climbing almost back to cloud base. The ground is shaded ahead and there are dark cu’s everywhere. It is hard to find any sunlight. But, then, this is what it has been like the past few days, so it is not a great worry. We are already getting 1,400’ higher than we were over the last two days, so a little (or a lot) of shading doesn’t hold that much terror for us.

While a couple have dropped out, we climb back to cloud base at 4,300’ MSL and look out to more shading, but now under clouds that are flat and gray, not puffy and back. It looks like a dead zone in front of us, and we are slowly progressing into the wind toward the first turnpoint nineteen miles to the northeast.

A few flex wings are out in front and Bubba finds very light lift at 800’ AGL under the a gray sky with the tiniest bit of light on the ground. Soon there are eight of us in the gaggle. Luckily I’m on top, because the middle six are all on the same level with Terry Presley on the bottom. Six pilots have to learn to get along on their marry-go-round and I merrily float above them as though I had hollow bones or an extra hit of helium.

It takes 17 minutes to climb 1,000’. The clouds disappear and there is sun every where and we get over a hot spot to the north and we get up to 4,500’. Now the dark clouds are much further apart. There is sun on the ground and things are looking better.

I’m with Ron Gleason and Russell Brown on rigids and Terry Presley on a flex. As we approach the first turnpoint I can see four flex wings to the south high, obviously a mix of later starters and some of the flex wings from our previous gaggle. Ron heads out first toward the turnpoint as Russell and I hold back. Ron gets ahead by finding a good thermal on his own just before the turnpoint.

The flex wings from the south, Russell and I come in under Ron, get high fast and I make the turnpoint as Russell has already taken it.

Now it is a chase as Russell, Dave Brandt in an ATOS, and I push to catch up with Paris Terry, Dennis and Ron. We are just behind and below them in the next thermal and Paris, Ron and Russell get away from the four of us five miles before the second turnpoint. We can see them getting high two miles before the turnpoint as we work a thermal also getting high two miles back.

Terry, Dennis and I get to the cloud that Paris, Ron and Russell left five minutes previously and we climb to almost 5,000’ two miles before the second turnpoint. I head out as we hit cloud base on a mission to catch up with Russell so that he doesn’t gain too many points on me.

I find Dave Brandt south of the turnpoint as he didn’t go to the good cloud with us. We’ve got a sixteen mile leg back to Twin Oaks, due south with an east wind (just as forecast). I spot Paris way high above and out in front of me climbing under very small clouds. He’s right on the course line so I go for him and start climbing in lift that averages 200 fpm. Good for the day that averages 130 fpm.

I’m down to 2,400’ AGL when I enter the thermal and 13 miles out. I climb to 3,500’ AGL before it gets weak. It’s 19.6 to 1 to get to goal. My IQ-Compeo says I’m 350’ above the best glide line. It must think I’ve got a tail wind. My polar is about 17 to 1 at best L/D speed of about 32 mph.

I go on glide as I can see good clouds ahead of me if I need any lift. I’m watching the final glide calculator. I’m aware that the goal is a quarter mile cylinder so I have a little extra margin of safety.

At eleven miles out I come in under the clouds Dennis and Terry are way back below me and Dave has gone way off to the east to get under some clouds. I get 500 fpm as I glide straight. The vario says I have the goal so I just push out and don’t turn. I climb 400’ and am at 3,500’ AGL 10.5 miles out. It’s a 15.8 glide to goal. The IQ-Compeo is saying I’m 1250 feet over the best glide line and that I’ve got goal by 1,250’.

I keep flying straight given the IQ-Compeo reading and my feeling that I’m going to make it. Also I really want to catch up with Ron and Russell and I know they aren’t at goal yet, but I haven’t seen them.

As I keep gliding suddenly I see Ron and Russell 700 feet above me a mile to my right more on the course line. They are just a little in front of me and now I’m sure that I have to keep gliding so that they don’t get into goal too far in front of me.

I glide for 10.5 miles in sixteen minutes averaging 39 mph over the ground. I tried to fly at the indicated best L/D speed over the ground. My average rate of sink over the last 10.5 miles was 220 fpm.

I came into Twin Oaks at 100 feet over the quarter mile cylinder and would have made the goal with zero altitude to spare. I didn’t speed up at the last minute I’ll tell you that.

I wonder what happened to the 1,250 feet of extra room over the best glide line. Was I just going too fast? Perhaps I should just have made sure that my air speed was 32 mph.

Ron and Russell are first and second into goal. I’m two minutes behind Ron. Paris uncharacteristically came in high behind me, but won the day as he started at 2:15 PM.

Terry and Dennis were able to get to goal also along with Dave Brandt. Campbell Bowen left to go to a wedding so he wasn’t here to fly the last three days of the meet. We will fly through Sunday.

Paris moved from third to first and Andreas moved from first to third. Terry Presley stayed in second.

Flex wings today:

Place Name Glider Finish Total
1 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat 17:03:10 906
2 PRESLEY Terry Moyes Litespeed 4 17:22:04 749
3 PAGEN Dennis Moyes Litespeed 17:22:36 737
4 OLSSON Andreas Moyes Litespeed 4 474
5 GRZYB Krzysztof Icaro MRX700 333
6 GOODMAN Bubba Moyes Litespeed 4 328
7 SAYER Wayne Moyes Litespeed 3 238
8 CIZAUSKAS Rich Wills Wing FusionSP 182
9 HAGEWOOD Robert Aeros Combat 2 163
9 GILLETTE Rhanor Wills Wing Ultra Sport 163
9 MORRIS Dan Wills Wing Talon 163
9 DUGGAN Dan Icaro MR700WRE 163
13 BURICK Carl Airborne Climax 0
13 BOUMEESTER Rik Aeros Stealth 0

Flex wing total:

Place Name Glider Total
1 WILLIAMS Paris Aeros Combat 2766
2 PRESLEY Terry Moyes Litespeed 4 2656
3 OLSSON Andreas Moyes Litespeed 4 2637
4 PAGEN Dennis Moyes Litespeed 2338
5 GOODMAN Bubba Moyes Litespeed 4 1747
6 GRZYB Krzysztof Icaro MRX700 1497
7 HAGEWOOD Robert Aeros Combat 2 1352
8 SAYER Wayne Moyes Litespeed 3 1336
9 MORRIS Dan Wills Wing Talon 954
10 CIZAUSKAS Rich Wills Wing FusionSP 783
11 BURICK Carl Airborne Climax 765
12 BOUMEESTER Rik Aeros Stealth 750
13 DUGGAN Dan Icaro MR700WRE 569
14 GILLETTE Rhanor Wills Wing Ultra Sport 163

Rigids today:

Place Name Glider Time mph Total
1 GLEASON Ron AIR Atos C 2:59:52 17.03 1000
2 BROWN Russ Flight Designs GhostBuster 3:00:32 16.97 946
3 STRAUB Davis AIR Atos C 3:01:48 16.85 908
4 BRANDT Dave AIR Atos 3:22:08 15.16 739
5 LAMB James AIR Atos C 209
6 BOWEN Campbell Flight Designs Axxess + ABS 0

Rigids total:

Place Name Glider Total
1 STRAUB Davis AIR Atos C 3146
2 BROWN Russ Flight Designs GhostBuster 2923
3 BOWEN Campbell Flight Designs Axxess + 2026
4 BRANDT Dave AIR Atos 1988
5 GLEASON Ron AIR Atos 1829
6 LAMB James AIR Atos C 1492

Discuss "Midwest Regionals – sunshine, cu’s, goal finishers" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Florida Report

Tue, Mar 18 2003, 8:00:01 pm GMT

Aeros Combat|Aeros Discus|Aeros Target|Bob Lane|David Glover|Florida|Gerry Uchytil|Jim Lamb|landing|Litesport|record|Ron Gleason|tow|wires|Worlds

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

West winds today. Quite unstable in the middle of the day. No rain, but good lift under dark sky’s. Tomorrow looks like a day that we may be going for the single surface record. Southeast winds 10 to 15 mph.

Jim Lamb is here. Gerry Uchytil and Ron Gleason also. Ron’s ATOSes need to be X-rayed in San Francisco, so he’s flying David Glover’s Falcon 195. I picked up an Aeros Target from GW today. Also an Aeros Discus, and the larger Aeros Combat, the one that was flown by Natalia, the Russian pilot at the Women’s Worlds.

I might be able to fly the Aeros Discus tomorrow for a short test/demo flight. You can read about it at www.justfly.com. Curved tip, intermediate kingposted glider to compete with the Litesport and the U2. Bob Lane says that it tows with one finger and has a nice light, but positive bar pressure.

The joint was jumping today with lots of tows late in the afternoon after the lift quit (hello?) and the sun came back out.

I noticed on the Target the same thing that Bo mentioned. A little harder to initiate a turn and then the glider wants to spiral in. I hear that this is a design feature. I’ll see how it goes, as this was only a short flight. The cross bars seem to be designed so that they don’t float or move from side to side.

Also the pull back wires on top of the keel go through the king post bracket and under the kingpost. It seems like this would be an area of wear. This also restricts the upward movement of the cross bars, which I assume is the idea.

I have a great landing with it and it was pretty easy to tow for a single surface glider. Hope to learn about 100+ miles more about it tomorrow.

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

Getting data to ⁢CIVL »

Fri, Mar 14 2003, 4:00:08 pm EST

Bo Hagewood|CIVL|Jim Lamb|World Pilot Ranking Scheme

As you can imagine it is quite a job taking the results of competitions and calculating world rankings. Even if the designated WPRS system sucks, the work still has to be done by Paul Bowyer, until the CIVL Plenary votes on a new ranking system.

Competition meet organizers are supposed to send in Race databases that contain the unique information about each pilot and the results of the competition. Unfortunately many meet organizers fail to do this. And even if they do send in the Race database, there is no unique pilot identification that allows the results to automatically update the world ranking database.

I see Paula struggling with this, and I certainly have to for the US NTSS system. Trying to figure out Brazilian names and nick names (I think that they do this on purpose and also use PDF just to get at CIVL), is a horrendous piece of work. There is such no consistency.

Also meet organizers are not dealing with FAI Sporting licenses or entering those numbers into the database, so that unique number can't be used. Some meet organizers were sending in spread sheet, PDFs, HTML, and even GIF versions of the final results. I'd love to force them to have to retype in the pilot names and results.

I know I have to do a lot of hand work to get the data straight. Now was the Jerz Rossignol or Jersy Rossignol, for example. Everything is tied to the pilot's name. James or Jim Lamb? Bo Hagewood?

Sure would be nice if we could cooperate here.

Discuss "Getting data to ⁢CIVL" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Lock strap

Sun, Feb 9 2003, 2:00:05 pm GMT

Eric Paquette

Eric Paquette <airloisir@videotron.ca> writes:

I found this cheap strap (4.99$ Can), it could be used to travel when your Atos is on top of your car! Heavy-duty, adjustable nylon and fits suitcases up to 72 po x 2 po wide. Features a built in double combination lock that can be set and reset.

(editor’s note: Couldn’t find that one on the web, but did find this one:)

http://www.rei.com/online/store/ProductDisplay?storeId=8000&catalogId=40000008000&productId=6077416&parent_category_rn=4501756

Discuss "Lock strap" at the Oz Report forum   link»

US Open – 150 miles »

Thu, Aug 15 2002, 3:00:00 pm EDT

Belinda Boulter|Bo Hagewood|Dave Brandt|David Glover|Glen Volk|Gordon Rigg|Jim Lamb|Jim Lee|Kent Robinson|photo|Rich Burton|Timothy Ettridge|US Open

Belinda Boulter|Bo Hagewood|Dave Brandt|David Glover|Glen Volk|Gordon Rigg|Jim Lamb|Jim Lee|John "Ole" Olson|Kent Robinson|photo|Rich Burton|Timothy Ettridge|US Open

(?-i)John "Ole" Olson|Belinda Boulter|Bo Hagewood|Dave Brandt|David Glover|Glen Volk|Gordon Rigg|Jim Lamb|Jim Lee|Kent Robinson|photo|Rich Burton|Timothy Ettridge|US Open

Belinda Boulter|Bo Hagewood|cart|Dave Brandt|David Glover|Glen Volk|Gordon Rigg|Jim Lamb|Jim Lee|Kent Robinson|photo|Rich Burton|Timothy Ettridge|US Open

Belinda Boulter|Bo Hagewood|cart|Chris Zimmerman|Dave Brandt|David Glover|Glen Volk|Gordon Rigg|Jim Lamb|Jim Lee|Kent Robinson|photo|Rich Burton|Timothy Ettridge|US Open

www.flytec.com

No results until Friday morning. They are going to put all the GPS’s down on the table and then see how long it takes from GPSes to the web page for the scores.

Jon Woodruff tumbles in his Airborne Climax. I haven’t got the full story yet, but apparently Jon grabbed a hold of the base bar real tight as he went over, found himself in the apex of the control frame on top of the bottom surface of the glider with a bent base bar. Got the glider righted, and continued flying to within 34 miles of the goal. These tailless flying wings just continue to flip over.

Jerz and Terry, my two compatriots on the task committee, came in this morning saying that people were bugging them about going out and not coming back. David Glover was ticking off possible goals and Hobbsstruck Jerz’s and Terry’s fancy at a little over a hundred miles.

I was concerned about the possibility of over development especially going toward New Mexicoas the forecast showed the dry line a bit to the west of the border. I wanted a longer task more to the north if we were really going to do this and David mentioned Muleshoe 150 miles to the northwest.

The wind was predicted to continue to be 10 mph out of the east. I didn’t want a straight downwind task, and everyone liked the idea of really going for it, so Muleshoe it was. If we made it, it would be the longest task flown in a competition in the US(maybe the world, but I forget what the Australian pilots told me about that earlier this year).

The area around the Big Springairport is still weak from all the rain the day before, but the chance of over development is a lot less than the previous two days. I predict only isolated over development with a bit weaker lift than previous days to 9,000’.

For me the tow right off the cart is quite smooth as there is doesn’t seem to be much lift or turbulence and the winds are very light. At the end of the runway at 600’ I hit a hard thermal, get way way too high over the tug and pin off.

I turn to go back into the thermal and get tossed around like a rag doll. Oh, oh thoughts of doing what Gordon Rigg did in Australia. Oz Report readers may remember than Gordon’s weak link broken when he went through a strong thermal, he went back to it and tumbled his Litespeed (oops, there they go over again).

Still I want to stay up so I start thermaling next to the strong core just getting enough lift to stay up and climb at 100 fpm. Better than dying and better than landing.

I hear later that Jim Lee has quite an adventure on tow also, but I haven’t got the story yet. He was right behind me.

I find the lift to be weak and after my brush with death I’m trying to get every thing reorganized in my mind. It’s multiple slow climbs in the start circle and I’ll have to take the last start time at 1:30at only 7,000’. Kent Robinson and Jim Lamb will be just behind me.

It seems that everyone else is out on the course from the earlier gates. I’m right on the course line so if there were other pilots taking the last start time you’d think I’d see them. Within two thermals I’m alone for the rest of the flight.

What can I say, well, maybe I’ll just say it once (in this article). The ATOS without the tail (and me as the pilot) sucks. The air doesn’t seem that bad, but the ATOS is all over the place twitching in every direction. I really don’t need this and it will make for an unpleasant experience. Be that as it may, I’ve got a task to complete.

The lift gets stronger and my altitude climbs as I get away from the airport. There are nice cu’s reasonably spaced and I’ve basically got to connect the dots, because in between the dots the sink is in the 400 to 600 fpm range.

The winds out of the east and the placement of the clouds gets me quickly to the downwind side of the course line. I’m following along near highway 87 to Lamesa and looking for any streeting possibilities (even though I essentially have to jump the streets).

I’ll find the strongest lift of the day at Lamesa to cloud base over 9,000’ but the cloud street through the town and to the northwest won’t work and I’ll go on a long glide that will get me into a blue hole at 1,500’ AGL. Well, if the clouds don’t work, maybe the sunlit fields will.

Turns out that this is a pretty good strategy as the well formed clouds are mostly dying and the clouds that are new or haven’t even formed yet are the ones with lift. This pattern continues as I work my way past Brownfield, again finding no lift in the thick clouds over the town and getting down to 500’ in the blue to the northwest.

I find some lift in a hot field and a cloud forms over me as I climb 5,000’ at 600 fpm. There is a cloud street forming off to the northwest, away from the course line, but as it seems newly formed I figure why not try it.

Now this strategy works as I keep from getting low staying on the sunny (west) side of the cloud street. It’s good that I’m going in this direction because I notice that up ahead on the course line and over Leveland there is a good sized cu nimb. I’m six miles to the west of town.

There is even a better cloud street just downwind from the cu-numb and I climb up at 600’ to 9,000’. It starts to rain, but I’m still climbing. When I go on glide under the cloud street, watching the cu-nimb to my right, I keep climbing, gaining another 1,000’ as I glide to the end of the cloud street and past the cu-nimb.

I’m thirty miles out, high and with a large cloud with lots of vertical development in front of me 20 miles out from the goal. There is also a cu-nimb right over the goal and it looks like it is raining there. This is beginning to get scary.

I race to the next cloud wondering if it is going to start dumping, but I find lift right on the sunny side as I expected. Now I’m wondering if I’m willing to climb and head into the cu-nimb at goal. It’s hard to tell if it is dangerous or not.

I’m not feeling like maximizing my climb and I head toward the goal without getting up as high as I should. I can see some wisps of lift toward the goal, but I realized that the last cloud was my last chance at lift before goal.

Finally, I decide that I’m really ready to land without trying to risk it any more. I land 15 miles from goal after hearing from Belinda that Jim Lee is down 11 miles from goal landing only because he ran out of lift.

On the ground everything is mild. The winds are still out of the east, southeast. There is rain over the goal, but this is the only cu-nimb in the area. The lift has been killed to the east, but there are plenty of clouds from where I just came that could have brought me in if I had had the nerve. I’m happy to be on the ground.

Results so far:

CampbellBowen – 5 miles out

Dave Brandt – 10 miles

Jim Lee - 11 miles out

Chris Zimmerman – 13 miles

DavisStraub – 15 miles

Jerz Rossignol – 25 miles

Rich Burton – 25 miles

Bo Hagewood – 27 miles

Mark P. – 40 miles

Glen Volk – 75 miles

Launching next to the hangar at the Big Springairport

Photos by Timothy Ettridge.

US Open – Campbell Bowen and Terry Presley in first »

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

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

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

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

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

www.flytec.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Drifting west in the start circle.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The results for the day for rigid wings:

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

The cumulative:

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

The results for the day for flex wings:

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

Cumulative:

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

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

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

The flight line at the US Open.

Photos by Timothy Ettridge.

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

US Open – day two »

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

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

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

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

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

www.flytec.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

WRE – Flytec vario winner »

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

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

WRE – Flytec vario winner

David Glover «dhglover» writes:

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

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

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

Total Miles 925

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

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

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

We will do it again next year!

Dynamic soaring

Tue, Jul 16 2002, 9:00:02 pm GMT

Jim Lamb|Mark "Forger" Stucky|sailplane|video

DH «catapult» writes:

Albatrosses do a variation of exploiting the wind gradient in sloping terrain with the ocean swells, especially when there is a good breeze. I got plenty of time to watch them on a California-Hawaii-California sailing trip. Once the word got around on the albatross grapevine that we were offering free crackers, we had lots of company. :-)

Anyway, they do most of their flying/hunting on the lee side of the swells. They pop up into the breeze at the top of the swell, like Forger described. Then they do a steep wingover and a fast water skim diagonally down the lee side of the swell, in the wind shadow and in ground effect, and on into the trough. That lets them cover the miles in a hurry and, I would guess, puts them in a prime position to grab any fish near the surface. Then, before their speed bleeds off too much, they do a hard pullup and do it all again.

Most of the descriptions of albatross flight I've seen neglect the swells but I think they are an important part of how they fly. Out in the blue water, there are always swells when there is any wind.

As an aside, when you see the albatrosses sitting on the water, it's time to start the motor. The only place I saw it was on the way back, in the giant eddy called the North Pacific High. The water was like glass, without a puff of wind. I think the albatrosses we saw must have really blown their flight plans to be there but it looked like they planned on just sitting until the wind blew.

Jim Lamb «jlamb» writes:

Your readers will find this URL on Dynamic Soaring interesting. http://www.sailplanehomebuilders.com/albatros_german_to_english.htm. Especially the video download at the end.

Discuss "Dynamic soaring" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

WRE – new unofficial world record »

Sun, Jun 23 2002, 9:00:00 pm GMT

Bo Hagewood|CIVL Plenary 2003|Jim Lamb|Pete Lehmann|Robin Hamilton|Stewart Midwinter|Tomas Suchanek|triangle|world record|World Record Encampment 2002

Today Jim Lamb (AIR ATOS-C) set a new unofficial world record for class 5 (as soon as CIVL separates class 5 world records from class 2 – presumably at the next CIVL Plenary in February 2003), for the 100 km out and return of 34.36 kmh (21.35 mph). This tops the old (1999) record for Stewart Midwinter flying a Swift and set at Golden, BC – presumably running along the mountain tops of the Rockies. It doesn’t eclipse Robin Hamilton’s Swift record of 48.9 kmh set at Hearne last year, which would be the Class 2 record.

Jim launched at about 2:15 PM from the Zapata County Airport and flew south to a bridge south of Falcon Lake on highway 83. There were spotty cu’s in the area, but as Jim reached the bridge the sea breeze from the east and south reached him. Coming back from the bridge he didn’t hit lift for four miles until he was down to 500 feet.

After getting back up and until that time he was between 4,000’ and 9,800’ AGL (the ground is 400’ AGL here). The sky had turned blue for his return flight.

He flew 111.1 km in 3 hours and 14 minutes.

Bo Hagewood and Pete Lehmann both attempted a 380 kilometer triangle task. This would surpass Tomas Suchanek’s 357 km (220 mile) triangle set in 2000. Bo got to within 35 miles of Zapata on his return leg. There was a good east breeze today which made for a difficult triangle task.

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WRE – Thursday - New World Records »

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

7 PM:

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

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

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

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

9:00 PM

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

Dave Prentice

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

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

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

10 PM:

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

Mike launching on his record flight

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

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

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

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WRE – the last few days »

Sun, Jun 16 2002, 7:00:00 pm GMT

Aeros|Aeros Combat|Aeros Combat 2|Bo Hagewood|Combat|Gary Osoba|Jim Lamb|paraglider|record|Rhett Radford|Will Gadd|World Record Encampment 2002

Given the original prediction (last Thursday) that Tuesday would be a super day, and given the light winds in Zapata, pilots flew locally Sunday and Monday while getting prepared for the big day. As Tuesday approached the issue became would the best day be Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday (you’d hate to go long – but not long enough - and not get back for the best day). Also, would the clouds start forming early?

On Tuesday at 6 AM a dark thin low cloud street formed east of the airport toward the paraglider tow paddock at Renato’s. Starting about 5 miles south of Zapata it extended to the north as far as we could see. It looked like there might a possibility of cu’s forming early.

The previous nights predicted sounding for Zapata showed diminished chances of cumulus development early in the day with lighter wind than hoped for earlier, but winds up to 20 mph on the ground in north Texas and higher at 5,000’ The direction looked very good and the winds were predicted to be stronger along the route than any of the previous two years’ record days.

There were scattered cu’s forming above the airstrip as we held our 8 AM pilot meet (moved up to be ready for the big day). Still with light winds, and low moisture there wasn’t any sign of cloud streets reforming. Bo Hagewood (Aeros Combat 2) launched at 8:45 AM. He landed about 4 miles away and we sent Rhett Radford over to pull him up again off a gravel road. He landed back at the airstrip.

A few minutes later he was off again, followed by Peter Lehmann (WW Talon) and Jim Lamb (AIR Atos-C). Gary Osoba had been up since before Bo took off in his Woodstock making sure that he was marking lift in the now blue sky for the pilots who had just released from tow.

By noon the pilots were negotiating their way around the Laredo airspace and hoping for the cu’s to start popping, which in fact a bit later they did.

Bo and Jim decided to land at Uvalde (165 miles out). Pete decided to land 20 miles out on highway 83.

All the paraglider pilots flew, with the Mexican pilots going 40-50 miles. Will Gadd and Dave Prentice landed 4 miles out. Louise landed in the Mesquite 400 yards out, was wet and hot, took off most of her clothes and burned to a crisp.

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Flytec Championship – the race begins »

Sun, Apr 21 2002, 8:00:00 pm GMT

Aeros Combat|Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Bruce Barmakian|Christian Ciech|Curt Warren|Florida|Flytec Championships 2002|Gary Osoba|Gerolf Heinrichs|Hansjoerg Truttmann|James-Donald "Don" "Plummet" Carslaw|Jim Lamb|Johann Posch|John "Ole" Olson|Manfred Ruhmer|Oleg Bondarchuk|Quest Air|weather|Wills Wing

The weather has continually improved since the beginning of the Wallaby Open, and over the last few days it has been great here in Florida. Today, Gary Osoba was predicting:

Looks like a good day for you. There is a distinct morning inversion. Things will start a little bit later than the average last week but when they kick off they'll be just fine for the first day of competition. Here's how it stacks up:

11am Blue. Weak lift to about 1800'. Winds at the surface sse at 3-5, aloft se at 5. As things progress toward noon and beyond, it will kick off for you. May wish to use a wind dummy or two to see when it happens.

2pm Good to strong lift and some clouds to around 5700'-6000'. The thermals might be sheared up a little in the last 1000' or so, depending upon what the upper winds really do. Surface winds sw at 3-5, at 3,000' sw at 7, at 6,000' se at 12. Around 3 pm maximum climbs to around 6300'-6500'.

5pm Good lift to around 6000' with some clouds. Less shearing in the thermals at this hour. Winds at the surface wsw 5-8, at 3000' sw 6, at 6000' ssw 5.

There was a west wind all day, but not enough to keep us from launching to the south. It measured about 10 mph out of te west during the task.

Given the predictions for good lift and light winds, we call an 82 mile triangle, with the first leg north to Leeward, a bit northeast of Belleview, south down to Coleman, and then southeast back to Quest Air flight park.

We are expecting a blue day, or at least clouds that don’t get too high. It certainly is blue in the morning, and there aren’t any clouds when the launch window opens at noon. We’ve moved everything back to a start window at 1:30as there is no chance of over development, and Garyis calling for a later day.

We call a race to minimize any of the effects of departure points and to make sure that pilots can know where they stand by just looking around and seeing where they are with respect to everyone else.

The rigids start at 4 miles out and the flex wings at 7 miles out north of Quest. With no one all that excited about getting into the air given the blue nature of things, the launch times get compressed. Still, with the sufficient resources just like at Wallaby, we all get into the air very very quickly. It is great having this many (17) tugs and trikes.

The lift seems weak at first for most people. I pull the pin when I’m at 2,000’ and my averager is showing 1,200 fpm. It couldn’t have been a better tow, especially behind a trike. A small cu forms over me as I climb out to 4,500’.

I scoot out to the 3.3 mile mark where all the rigids gaggle up and get ready for the start. You’ve got to wonder about the flex wings that are flying with us. Haven’t they heard the news that they are supposed to be out at 7 miles out?

I made a presentation of the strategy for the day after the pilot meeting. I suggested to those few attendees that they not follow the course line to Leeward, but rather head west toward the Okahumpka service area on the Floridaturnpike. This gets them away from Leesburg, away from the lake to the east of Leesburg, and away from the forest between the turnpike and Leesburg.

When the window opens at 1:30 PMI head northwest toward Okahumpka, but at first only a few pilots follow me. Most head toward the gaggle of flex wings straight north toward Leesburg. I find a good line of lift and notice that the clouds are forming to our west, in the direction I’m heading.

I continue pushing northwest to get half way between Wildwood and Leesburg, where I think I will find the good lift over the drier farm lands. Now only one pilot is following me away from all the rest of the pilots. We are hitting good lift. I have to take a six mile glide and get down to 2,000’ to get under the next forming clouds, but the lift continues to be strong and I’m clearly catching the lead gaggle of flex wings that started 3 miles ahead of us.

Just a few miles north of the turnpike I’m next to the forest at its thinnest part, just where I had advised the pilots to go. The lift is light, and the clouds aren’t forming yet to the north of me. I’m checking out a landfill a few miles to the north and thinking that it will be working even if there aren’t any clouds.

The lead gaggle to down wind of me to the east a couple of miles. Suddenly they all turn 90° and head my way as I start climbing. The gaggle includes the two Swifts (one flown by Manfred), Alex Ploner and Christian Ciech on the ATOS-C and Stratos respectively, and a bunch of flex wings – the fastest flex wing pilots.

I really should leave before these guys get to me as the lift is so weak, but now I get a bit nervous after going out on my own up until this point. I wait a few minutes before leaving the gaggle behind when it proves to be just too painful to be with them.

The clouds are now beginning to form, but I find the lift over the landfill first and climb out with enough gusto to bring along the rest of the pilots. To keep away from them I push further west of the course line again, ignoring light lift and looking for a good one under the better clouds to the northwest. At 1,400’ I finally get to the cloud I’m interested in and my 450 fpm attracts a lot of attention. The Swifts have already gone ahead.

The day is improving and we are now under lots of well formed clouds. We climb to over 5,000’. I go on glide with Curt Warren and when he stops to find some lift I continue toward goal and hook into 550 fpm that gets me (and later others) to 5,700’ just before the turnpoint at Leeward airstrip, 40 miles out from Quest Air.

As I approach the turnpoint, I notice Christian Ciech coming into it at the same time from the east. He had not gone nearly as far west as I had. I cut in front of him to get the turnpoint at the edge of the cylinder and head south toward Coleman.

Christian appears to have a much better glide on his Stratos compared to me. I’m not use to seeing other rigid wing hang glider pilots out glide me, other than Hansjoerg. I’m wondering if I’ve got too draggy a harness setup, whether I have enough ballast (I have 11 kilos), whether the T-tail, because it isn’t set at the proper angle, is adding drag, or whether the Stratos has a better glide (see below).

As we head south, we’re in the lead, other than the Swifts which are at least ten miles ahead of us. After a while I notice Alex Ploner coming in 500’ to 1000’ below us. I wonder what happened to him.

The lift going back toward Coleman isn’t all that great, averaging about 250 fpm. The wind is blowing pretty strong out of the west at 11 mph, and I’m concerned about an on-shore flow from the west coast killing the lift. It seems to be dampening things out a bit.

Alex goes off to the west and presumably finds a good thermal while Christian and I head south. At Wildwood, Alex and Christian (who also went off to the west to find lift) join me in 200 fpm under thick clouds, but not well defined clouds. We need the lift even if it isn’t up to the standards we got use to going to the first turnpoint.

Christian again gets a better glide going into Coleman. Alex has a bit better glide than I. He’s not doing as well as Christian. Later he will tell me that he was gliding with Christian in the Wallaby Open, but that Christian was out gliding him today.

I stop for lift just before Coleman having taken a different line trying to get under some clouds on the west side of Christian and Alex. They work for me and I get above Alex. Christian makes the turnpoint and heads southeast toward the prisons.

The gaggle of flexies and a few rigids in catching up with us point men out in front as I approach Coleman, so I hurray up and take the turnpoint and head for the prisons. Alex was chasing Christian and is working light lift just west of the prisons when that effort failed. I’m 500 feet over him, and continue along in buoyant air without any strong cores toward the southeast hoping to find Christian.

I spot him working lift 5 miles south of the prisons and come in at 1,700’. The lift is averaging only 280 fpm, but we are under a large dark cloud and the cloud cover from there toward goal is spotty. We are 15 miles out.

Christian and I will spend 12 minutes climbing here in this light lift while Alex and then the gaggle will come in underneath us. Johann Posch has been listening on the radio and I’ve been providing lift locations and he’s with the gaggle.

Christian and I are playing a cat and mouse game on top of the gaggle. As this is a race we know that where you are determines your position in the race. He is only 200 feet over me (as the lift has slowed down at the top of the thermal). He won’t leave until I do (or until Alex does). I want to force him to leave by staying with him in the thermal until there is nothing left. You only have to beat the other guys and the three leaders all together.

Finally Alex leaves from below, I immediately follow to his right, and Christian can watch us and take an even further right course which proves to be much better. Alex and I plummet from 5,200’ to 1,600’ in 7 miles. I find lift over a brown earthmoving area with clouds above it and Alex comes in below. We climb out to 4,200’ while Christian just continues on toward goal after a few turns in our thermal.

The gaggle has spotted me circling up again and joined in below. Johann comes in just over me.

Alex goes on glide and I follow with Johann right behind me. We hear that Christian is on final glide in front of us.

The final glide is very fast at speeds over 50 mph. We four rigid wing pilots have left just before the flex wings decide to go. Johann and Alex pull in more than I do and I see them out in front and way below me and I’m not willing to go quite that fast. I speed up when I see them in front of me going faster.

Curt Warren and Gerolf Heinrichs are right behind me and below as they have sped up also. They are beginning to catch up and as I’m not willing to let them beat me to goal, I pull in even further and keep them at bay.

Gerolf and Curt are right on the deck and have to slow up a little while I have plenty of altitude and can pull in more as I find smoother air. Christian then a few minutes later Alex with Johann right behind him cross the goal line. I’m not far behind. And right after me Curt and Gerolf right on the ground.

They are right next to each other as they cross the goal line and right next to the ground. Curt is 2 inches off the ground and has been in ground effect for 300 feet. He slows down and flares. Gerolf crashes a bit into him, takes out his own control frame and breaks a few of Curt’s battens.

Gerolf lies on the ground and doesn’t move. We think he may be hurt, but he just doesn’t want to be moved. An ambulance is called, but Gerolf turns out to be okay, well almost – sprained ankle. The rest of the gaggle comes in right after Curt and Gerolf’s show and buzz the launch low also.

We find out after landing that Bruce Barmakian had one of his Wills Wing slipstream downtubes come unscrewed at the apex. It was flopping down on him in flight. He had to climb up into the control frame, untie one of his shoe laces, and tie the downtube back in place. Thankfully downtubes are not structural on ATOSes.

Landings were difficult at the field with no wind. I had a slider and found that the AIR ATOS-C control frame with its little skids would slide just fine.

Felix and Christof finished Jim Lamb’s ATOS-C repair this morning after Jim hit the wind sock pole at the Wallaby Open and he was back in the air at the Flytec Championship today. Oleg, GW and many others helped Gary Wirdham get his Aeros Combat 2 back together after he took out the main windsock at Wallaby and he was back in the air today.

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Wallaby Open – death gaggles and stop times

Tue, Apr 16 2002, 5:00:00 pm EDT

Adam Parer|Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Brian Porter|Florida|Jaime Ruiz|Jim Lamb|John Vernon|Manfred Ruhmer|Peter Gray|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Robin Hamilton|Wallaby Open 2002|Wallaby Ranch|weather

Adam Parer|Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Brian Porter|Florida|Jaime Ruiz|Jim Lamb|John "Ole" Olson|John Vernon|Manfred Ruhmer|Peter Gray|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Robin Hamilton|Wallaby Open 2002|Wallaby Ranch|weather

(?-i)John "Ole" Olson|Adam Parer|Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Brian Porter|Florida|Jaime Ruiz|Jim Lamb|John Vernon|Manfred Ruhmer|Peter Gray|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Robin Hamilton|Wallaby Open 2002|Wallaby Ranch|weather

Adam Parer|Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Brian Porter|Florida|Jaime Ruiz|Jim Lamb|John Vernon|Manfred Ruhmer|Oleg Bondarchuk|Peter Gray|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Robin Hamilton|Wallaby Open 2002|Wallaby Ranch|weather

Adam Parer|Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Brian Porter|Florida|Jaime Ruiz|Jim Lamb|John Vernon|Manfred Ruhmer|Oleg Bondarchuk|Peter Gray|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Robin Hamilton|Wallaby Open 2002|Wallaby Ranch|weather

Adam Parer|Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Brian Porter|Florida|Jaime Ruiz|Jim Lamb|John Vernon|Manfred Ruhmer|Peter Gray|Quest Air|Rhett Radford|Robin Hamilton|Wallaby Open 2002|Wallaby Ranch|weather

We are in a very stable weather pattern with light winds out of the east southeast and lots of moisture in the air (and on the ground). Lift is for the most part pretty light and cloudbase is low. This makes for interesting and difficult tasks.

The forecast calls for convergence on the western side of the state with a trough forming right along the west coast in the late afternoon. I advise the other members of the task committee that we probably want to stay away from the west as the convergence will probably be just too much for us. The rain chance is 30 percent, a little less than the day before, and scheduled for the late afternoon.

We on the task committee call a Wallaby Ranch friendly task, a bit longer than the day before – 65 miles. The idea is go north to Quest Air flight park (Sheets) back to highway 27 and 192, the road that goes to Disney. This gets us up on the Floridaridge and the high dry spots with plenty of places to land if necessary. Next is the intersection of 27 and 17/92 in Haines City 11 miles south of Wallaby, with a final leg into the Ranch.

With an east wind predicted this gives us an out and return task that should be mostly cross wind, although some forecasts show a bit of a southerly wind component also. Coming back over the Ranch will give all the kind folks who are volunteering to help out with the meet a chance to see the competitors in action.

Given the shaky weather conditions we are again out early for an 11 AMlaunch and start time at 12:30. Looking at all the clouds forming around the Ranch at 11, I propose to Gerolf and Paris that we set a stop time of 3 PM. I’m afraid that the day will over develop and the meet director will cancel the task (there is no provision to stop the day without this advance notice).

At the last minute we agree to stop the day at 3 PMand of course that puts a fire under the pilots to get going. Bo goes right after we change the task to add this element, and soon every one is lined up in the launch line.

With seventeen tugs and trikes there are the resources here to get every one in the air in a very big hurray. Rhett Radford was instrumental in getting the two Floridaflight parks to agree to share resources so three tugs came down from Quest to help out with the Wallaby Open. The ground crew is very experienced so pilots are ready to go when the tug is there. It takes less than an hour to get almost everyone in the air.

Rhett Radford put Robin Hamilton’s Swift back together last night so he’s ready to take on Brian Porter (who got a score for the first day) in Class 2. Robin was hoping he could carry his time from flying his Laminar into Class 2, but no go. Jim Lamb got a borrowed ATOS to fly from Jaime Ruiz. Mike Z is still working on his broken keel.

With the 3 PMstop time, pilots are definitely thinking about the 12:30start time. The class one pilots are forming a death swarm at 5 miles out holding near cloud base in the skimpy lift waiting for the clock. The rigid wings are at 3 miles out in smaller gaggles. I get low trying to get tricky by flying upwind and getting away from other rigid wing pilots. I find myself at 800 feet over the Ranch at 12:25. Looks like I’m in big trouble.

I slowly climb out and now it is a question of whether to get the start time late or wait for the 12:45start time. A careful calculation would show that we are going to have a difficult time making the 65 miles in 2 ½ hours (in general we average 25 mph), so waiting is foolish. I don’t have time to make this calculation and wait for the 12:45start time.

I’ll get to see a lot of the race today as I now have the opportunity for a whole lot of gaggle hoping. Unfortunately the first gaggle is going to be the stragglers and you’ve got to be very careful. Use them for lift markers, but ignore what they are doing.

With cloud base at about 3,600’ it is a slow slog up to Quest for most of the pilots. With the lift averaging 300 fpm I find Adam Parer in an Airborne Climax a bit north of the Seminole Lake glider port and we work into 400 fpm to 4,200’. The day is looking good. There is no over development and the winds are light.

Just to our north there are half a dozen gliders working weak lift right over highway 33 and they are down low. I slide off to the left downwind a bit to the west of 33 under the clouds and get the rewards that such a move so justly deserves, 500 fpm to 4,100’.

There’s a gaggle over Quest and it is a quick glide from a commanding altitude to get to it after making the turnpoint. I’m on a mission to make up for the 15 minute handicap I have made for myself. The leading gaggles are a great help in this quest. I average 27 mph getting the Quest.

No one is waiting around in puny lift and we are hard charging to the south east toward the intersection of highway 27 and 192. We over the low swamp lands and sand mines, but our goal is the ridge. We’ve got a bit of a head wind, and broken lift that’s averaging 350 fpm. While it takes 48 minutes to cover the 22 miles to Quest from the Ranch, it takes 42 minutes to cover the mere 16 miles to the intersection and my average speed is down to 23 mph.

I come in under the main lead gaggle half way to the intersection, but it proves hard to climb up through them. Everyone is pushing to get to goal before the clock runs out. We get high just before the turnpoint and now it is a race down the ridge to the south turnpoint at HainesCity.

To the south we can see a big cell dumping hard on the swamp to the east of HainesCity. It looks like it isn’t moving our way thankfully. Gust fronts are a concern but the downpour is about ten miles to the east of the turnpoint and we don’t see anything else around that would cause a problem.

Time is now getting very short. Everyone is thinking about getting as far as possible before the time runs out. We are all bunched up so it is quite a squadron that passes by Wallaby and gives the folks there a thrill.

The storm to our east is adding a bit of texture to the air and suddenly the climb rates get quite strong. I come in low at the mid Floridahospital, and catch some of that strong lift. I’m wishing I had John Vernon’s tail, as Felix convinced me to fly without it today to get a feel for the ATOS-C without the tail. I’ll have it back on tomorrow (of course, the air was a lot different today).

I’m thinking that the rigid wings should be out in front but they seem to be mixed in with the rest of the gliders. I guess the gravitational influences of the flex wing gaggle just held them back. Too bad.

With ten minutes left we are all racing toward the turnpoint or just racing back from it. There is so much lift that you just have to ignore it and know that you are going to stay up as much as you need until 3 PM.

Making the turnpoint at HainesCity.

Manfred and Alex Ploner (Italian, Ladino) are out in front and racing. There must be thirty gliders just behind them and the pilots all know that the goal is not obtainable. If we (or I) had only said 3:15 PMinstead of 3 PM.

Some pilots are racing to the ground and others decide that a mile or two isn’t worth not making it back to the Ranch. There is plenty of lift so you can fly straight and fast toward the Ranch and still make good distance before the bell tolls.

Manfred gets a better line and gets ahead of Alex. He is 47 seconds too late coming into goal with Alex half a minute behind him. Manfred dives in, pulls up after the goal line, skims across the top of the dinner tent, dives back down and lands with a no stepper on the goal (or former goal) line to the great applause of all the volunteers at the Ranch.

Everyone is vectoring into the Ranch no matter where they were before 3 PMand the place is a bee hive of activity as those of us that decided not to land out make it back. Earlier I watch as Oleg scares some cows and then gets up from less than 100 feet as they kick off a thermal in a field 5 miles south of Wallaby. The cows charge Jerseyand another pilot.

In the morning you should be able to find the latest scores at: http://www.elltel.net/peterandlinda/Wallaby_Open_2002/Wallaby.htm

There seems to be a problem scoring this type of task with a stop time. We’ll see how Peter Gray does it tonight (maybe all night) with Compe-GPS.

GAP 2002 gives folks who only make it half way as many departure points as the fastest pilots. This seems a bit odd to say the least (although who really cares).

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Wallaby Open – rain, rain, rain

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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2001 Flytec World Record Encampment »

Sat, Jun 30 2001, 6:00:01 pm EDT

Dave Sharp|Flytec World Record Encampment 2001|Jim Lamb|John Greynald|record

Dave Sharp|Flytec World Record Encampment 2001|Jim Lamb|John Greynald|record|World Record Encampment

Dave Sharp|Flytec World Record Encampment 2001|Jim Lamb|John Greynald|record|World Record Encampment

309 mile dog leg to the middle of no where just south of Interstate 10 west of Ozona. That was the longest flight of the day, yesterday. John Greynald had his personal best, on a Laminar, at 197 miles. Jim Lamb was shut down by cirrus (which actually was a cu nimb that he didn't see) at 225 miles, near Rocksprings. Jim Neff took another route to the northwest and landed at 212 miles near Del Rio.

The day before yesterday David Barnhart flew a Vision Pulse 102 miles almost doubling his personal best. Longest flight in a Vision Pulse? No one has contacted me yet to tell me is 130 miles in a Moyes Sonic is the longest in a Sonic. Do you know?

Nine of thirteen pilots have flown their personal bests within the first week of the first session of the WRE. One pending world record has been set (on an ATOS). Two flights over 300 miles. It's been a good week.

Mark Poustinchian is still here. He was speaking about his feelings when I quoted him a couple of Oz Reports ago. He is ready to fly for longer distances. At least he is here, so I think he is.

Yesterday, Gary took off in his Woodstock at 8:15 AM. The cloud streets had started happening at 7:50 AM (totally without us being able to predict them from the atmospheric models). These early morning cloud streets are exactly what we are looking for.

He reported good lift to 2,000 within 500 feet of the clouds. I wanted to go at 8:30 AM, but Gary dissuaded me. Finally, I couldn't stand it any longer and took off at 8:50 AM

.

After a high tow, I blew out my zipper and had to come back for a retow. I got off at 9:15 and released from tow at 6,000' AGL at 9:27. After a 22 mile glide to 2,400' (speed over the ground – 61 mph, L/D – 31), I started working 200 fpm.

I could tell that I was late as the lift was too good and the top of the lift at 3,000' (2,600' AGL) was too high for early morning. I'm thinking that I could have started an hour earlier at 8:15 AM got down to 1,500' and climbed in 100 fpm to 2,000'. Of course, I still would have had at least a 22-mile glide to start off the day.

Lift was not bad for the next hour but always below 300 fpm. I was able to get to 4,000 (3,600' AGL) a couple of times which I figured was quite good for before 11 AM.

By noon I had flown 101 miles. My average speed was 40 mph over the ground. My mean L/D while gliding was 28 and I'd glided for about 60% of the time, at 55 mph over the ground when gliding between thermals. I was on a pace to go 440 miles. The winds were about 15 mph at 150 degrees.

At 2:45 PM, I was out 202 miles straight line back to Zapata and up in the hill country before the Edwards Plateau. I'd slowed down a little, and my overall average speed was 38 mph. I was on a pace to go 420 miles.

I could see ahead to a cu nimb to the north just peaking above the cu's below. I'd been low once in the flight (1,200') just before 100 miles, but found my best thermal there and had climbed out at 700 fpm to 5,200'. For the last hour, I'd been working a lot of 300 to 400 fpm with occasional 600 fpm lift.

I'd been running low not getting above 5,000' AGL until just before 200 miles. During the flight on which Dave Sharp set the world record at 311 miles, we got to Uvalde at 170 miles out from Zapata at 4 PM. I got there at 1:30 PM.

The lift was light enough that I didn't stay around whenever it dropped off. I just kept running along and going to the next lift hoping for better. Passed 170 miles I get into the hill country and get less than 1,500' over the valley floor, and I'm up in the hills so the ridges are a lot closer.

I find some 800 fpm to 6,500' up in the hills and feel a lot better as the land is rising up to 2,400' from 400' (at Zapata) and I'm at my highest altitude above seal level so far, but only 4,000' AGL.

Around 3:30 PM I run a line of sink losing 3,500' over seven minutes. I finally make a ninety-degree turn and find 400 fpm that turns into 600 fpm and I climb to 7,800, the highest I will get on the flight. Since I'm a long ways from a paved road, I appreciate the help from the clouds nearby.

There are plenty of light cu's throughout the flight, but no vertical development in them. I've only been to cloud base once. I leave long before I get there. I'm still watching the cu nimb to the northeast to see how fast the upper level clouds are spreading out from the top. I'm already heading northwest toward Sonora angling away from the cu nimb.

At 5:40 I'm at Sonora on Interstate 10, 260 straight-line miles from Zapata. The cu nimb is now just to the northeast of me about 15 miles. It is raining underneath it. There isn't any lightening. The clouds are spreading out the top of it and heading toward me. I decide that I can't continue north along highway 277 to the east side of San Angelo. I have to turn and run away to the west down Interstate 10.

I'm hoping to go west far enough to get around the cu nimb and the clouds coming out the top that are killing the lift. I'm just running with or in front of the shadow line formed by these high clouds as they spread west. I'm finding 500 to 600 fpm lift in places and moving along well.

At 30 miles west of Sonora, at Ozona, it looks like I can head northwest and get around the cu nimb. I look long and hard out to the north there and begin to realize that there is another cell to the north of Ozona. I'll have to continue going west on I-10 and hope to get around this cell.

I continue for another almost 20 miles and then it is clear that this cell is spreading very quickly to the west and southwest, cutting off the sunlight. All the cu's in front of me are drying up and the spreading high level clouds from this cu nimb have now reached to another 50 to 100 miles to my west. With the sun in the west, the sunlight can't get through to the ground to my west.

I decide to land at 6 PM, a 309-mile dogleg (knee at Sonora) from Zapata. An 8:30 hour flight on a day that would have allowed for an eleven-hour flight. At my average pace I would have been able to fly 400 miles, if I hadn't hit the cu nimb.

 

It is possible to launch and start flying at 8 AM in Zapata on days with cloud streets forming at 1,500' to 2,000'. It is possible to have 12 to 12:30 hour flights starting in south Texas. It is possible to average 40 mph with moderate tail winds (15 mph). More if the lift is also good (800 to 1000 fpm). Someone will break 450 miles at Zapata.

We actually had a very good clue that there would be a big cu nimb near San Angelo. Here's the ETA model's prediction for vertical wind speeds at 10,000' (700 mb) at 7 PM on Saturday. The bright red indicates high vertical speeds.

 

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 Flytec World Record Encampment »

Tue, Jun 26 2001, 4:00:01 pm EDT

Dave Sharp|Dragonfly|Flytec World Record Encampment 2001|Jim Lamb|Mark Poustinchian|record|Tom Pierce

Dave Sharp|Dragonfly|Flytec World Record Encampment 2001|Jim Lamb|John "Ole" Olson|Mark Poustinchian|record|Tom Pierce

(?-i)John "Ole" Olson|Dave Sharp|Dragonfly|Flytec World Record Encampment 2001|Jim Lamb|Mark Poustinchian|record|Tom Pierce

Dave Sharp|Dragonfly|Flytec World Record Encampment 2001|Jim Lamb|John "Ole" Olson|Mark Poustinchian|record|Tom Pierce|World Record Encampment

Dave Sharp|Dragonfly|Flytec World Record Encampment 2001|Jim Lamb|John "Ole" Olson|Mark Poustinchian|record|Tom Pierce|World Record Encampment

Today Jim Neff flew about 290 miles. Jim Lamb flew 285. Their longest flights before were 205 and 146 miles respectively.

The day started off well with plenty of moisture in the air and moderate winds before dawn. At 6:50, 6 minutes after sunrise Gary spotted a fractal cu. At 7 AM, there were two cloud streets east of us over the airport. I was out on the launch and ready to go at the Zapata County Airport at 7:50 AM.

Gary reported that the MAPS model didn't show enough lift until 10 AM. The sky cleared and then multiple cloud streets set up at 1,000' AGL. They started just south of the airport and lasted for about five miles. It was very hazy. The clouds were not very thick.

I finally couldn't wait any longer and launched at 8:55 AM, my earliest launch ever. Rhett took me to 6,000' to the southeast. I was 3,500' above the thin and scattered clouds.

The winds above the clouds were 40 mph out of the east-southeast. I glided for 25 miles in perfectly smooth air at 70 mph over the ground. That is the best flying you can possibly do. Finally I got down to 2,000 and started working light lift – 20 to 50 fpm. I stayed with whatever I could waiting for the day to turn on. I drifted for 10 miles doing nothing but turning and still I was only an hour into the flight at 35 miles out. The winds were 20 mph at 120 degrees below cloud base.

Jim Neff launched a little before 10 AM and Jim Lamb launched about 10:30. Jim Neff had his radio stuck on, so everyone else switched to another channel other than Jim Lamb. Neff owes us all a slab of beer.

Spoke with Jim Lamb tonight. He said that he almost landed with Mark Poustinchian at 15 miles out. But caught something off the deck.

I landed at 40 miles out at 10:10 east of Laredo, having not found a little cloud to stay with at one point.

Jim Lamb got up over Mark and never got low again. Jim Neff finally realized why no one was talking to him.

Both Jim's went up the route pioneered by Dave Sharp, up 83, 55 to Rocksprings, and over to 277. Lamb said that the winds were out of the south at 2,000 to 4,000 and out of the southeast at 150 degrees above 4,000. There were clouds the whole route.

Gary had earlier told us to go down the river route to Del Rio, but it looks like the winds were more southerly than predicted.

Jim's last climb was at 7 PM from 1,500' AGL to 9,000'. He landed at 8:30 PM.

Back at the airport, it was exciting. Tom Pierce decided to launch late around 3 PM. Rhett pulled him up and at about 1,500' the Flytec vario of the Dragonfly pegged – went completely white and it did it hard. Rhett was going straight to try to get Tom up wind. He flew straight with the vario pegged hard for a minute as they rose together from 1,500 to 3,500', never turning.

Later, the sea breeze convergence or maybe a gust front from a collapsing cu down by the coast, 150 miles away, came through with 60 mph winds and dust every where. Tom saw it coming and was already down on the ground.

Here's a photo from inside the hanger as the dust cloud hit us.

 

It blued out most of the day in the Zapata area never really developing any clouds until after 2:30 PM. The winds were quite a bit stronger in Zapata than forecast, and it was a lot drier than predicted.

Tomorrow looks good and so far we have had only three days of the first 14-day session.

Midwest Championships on now

Mon, May 22 2000, 5:30:03 am EDT

Jim Lamb|Rik Bouwmeester|weather

Rik Bouwmeester, «skyward», writes:

The meet is still scheduled for the memorial weekend as planned. May 27, 28, and 29. GPS , RADIOS, AND CELL PHONES, are not "required" but recommended. Cell phones and radios for retrieval purposes (obviously) , and GPS for checking distances.

Pilots meetings will be held at 9:00 am on each day. I will be meet head, Janice Haraldson will be volunteer coordinator and Jim Lamb as weatherman. There will be retrievals available if you are not able to bring your own, but bring your own please if possible.

We are accepting about 30 entries but only have about 12-15 confirmed.(It will be close) If you plan to attend please let me know via email or by phone. We welcome any visitors and are expecting several.

The format will be somewhat primitive but yet fun and rewarding. My goal for this year is to plant the seed for years to come. The Midwest has great potential for a high profile meet. I hope to have someone take the job on for next year and hold a sanctioned meet. The interest in there, we just need someone to run the meet.

The proceeds of this meet will be donated to the club and go towards building a children's playground. I thank the couple of people who have donated extra for the cause.

Editor's note: The weather for the first day looks poor, but after that, it may be OK. This site is not too far from Leland.

213 miles in a flex wing

Mon, May 22 2000, 9:30:00 am GMT

airspace|Arlan Birkett|Bright Star Millennium|cloud|competition|dust devil|Greg Dinauer|Hang Glide Chicago|Jim Lamb|Larry Bunner|Pete Lehmann|record|tow|tug|XC

Larry Bunner, «LBunner», writes:

I really enjoy reading about the long flights in Florida, but I’ve got to tell you that a part of me was in turmoil when Mark P. and then Davis reset the East Coast Distance record this spring. Way back in 1988, I was fortunate to fly my Sensor B model in epic XC conditions 176 miles in 5 ½ hours. This record stood for 10 years before Pete Lehmann broke it in 1998 with a 182-mile flight.

At the beginning of each year since ‘88, I have set my goal to be the first to fly over 200 miles east of the Mississippi River. Little did I think it would take someone over a decade to accomplish this and you can understand my disappointment when it wasn’t me.

Complicating matters this year, a new position with my company has significantly reduced the opportunities to fly. I have now become a weekend pilot and have to choose which of the two days looks best, as family commitments are a priority also. As a result, my airtime is way down (~12 hours) and with the Midwest XC Championships scheduled for Memorial Day weekend, I elected to take vacation the week before to prepare for the competition.

I do most of my flying now at the Hang Glide Chicago aero park in Leland, Illinois. Arlan Birkett has one Kolb tug and another under construction. The site is located about 50 miles southwest of Chicago and is situated ideally for XC flying in the Midwest.

The only obstructions to long distances to the south and east are the controlled air space over Champaign, IL, Lafayette and Indianapolis, IN. There are no mountains to cross nor forests to fly over just flat ground as far as the eye can see. Many flights over 100 miles have started in this area and it was only 20 miles from here that my XC flight began so long ago.

On Wednesday May 24th, I went through my preflight ritual; checked the grass for dew on the way to get the paper, got on the Internet to check the soaring forecast and called Flight Service for the Chicago area soaring forecast. All indicators looked good, the grass was dry and the forecasts predicted excellent lift and strong winds. Winds at the top of the lift were predicted to be ~40 mph (how’s that for push!).

Editor's note: Jim Lamb reports:

"Winds were WSW from 20 on the ground to 38 Knots at 8,000 (not much rotation at upper levels) and increasing during the day. Height of the -3 was above 9,000' in many areas."

In my logbook last year I had noted several times to get to the park earlier. Often the cu’s would be forming well before noon and I would still be on the road. The night before, my better half sensed a flying day was on the horizon and put together a list of things to do around the house. Being short sighted, I finished them that night not realizing that after I went to bed she developed a new list. When I got up in the morning, I still had work to do! Enough excuses, I didn’t get to Leland until after 10:30 and wasn’t on the flight line ready to tow until 11:50. Needless to say those cu’s were forming again around 11:00 (Davis could teach me a few things on maximizing the front end of the day).

The winds at launch were blowing from the NW at 10-20 mph as we took off. The tug did not climb very well as we were almost 2 miles upwind before releasing at 1400’. I flew upwind in my Stealth 151 KPL to get some more maneuvering room before I had to decide to leave the park area. A ratty thermal took me to 2500’ and quickly back to the airport. I left this in favor of a developing cu to the southwest of the field and was soon in scramble mode down to 600’ under the cloud shadow. I was going to find this thermal or go down trying.

Luckily enough (and very lucky it was as you will soon find out) I caught a smooth core at 300 fpm that turned into 600 fpm by the time I topped out over 6000’ almost 20 miles away near Morris, IL.

Back at launch, Greg Dinauer towed his Millennium to 2000’ and released in good lift to head on his way. Unfortunately, on the ground Warren Seipman was last to tow and by the time the tug landed, the winds had picked up considerably, gusting over 30 mph. Arlan could not get the tug to taxi downwind without lifting a wing and Warren was having trouble in the dolly. Arlan called it a day. Man, am I glad I went for the cloud.

Greg and I were using business band channel 2 however I could not transmit. I heard him fine for about an hour and then my batteries went dead. I changed to both spares and they were dead too. I guess that after 6 years they had exceeded their lifetime. I fly best when alone anyway so it was no big loss for me; actually one less distraction to worry about.

Small cumuli were forming in streets to the north and east. I was in a good line but there were no clouds to the south. The next few thermals took me to 7500’ still well below cloudbase but the lift seemed to peter out so I headed downwind crossing interstate 55 and then 57. I set up my Tangent ‘next climb’ to 650 fpm and tailwind at 24 mph and began using the speed to fly in earnest.

The next two thermals took me to ~8500’ (later we estimated cloudbase to be well over 9000’) in the strongest lift (>1400 fpm) I have encountered in the Midwest. The subsequent glides took me into Indiana over highway 41 and interstate 65. The going had been fairly easy to this point, I stayed above 5000’ with no trouble.

I wanted to check my distance so far and was very surprised to see that I was at the 100-mile mark and it was only 2:30! If I could just stay in the air, there was enough push that the site record of 144 miles and Region 7 and state record of 177 miles would soon fall.

As often happens though the conditions began to deteriorate. High cirrus from some distant storm to the west was moving in my direction faster than I was able to fly. I could see the shadows coming from a long way off and I had to pick a line to keep me in the sunshine. The lift was still good (~600 fpm), however the cu’s began to dissipate and soon the glides between lift sources became much more extended.

I was now getting down to 4000’ before finding lift but was still getting over 7000’. My philosophy has always been that he who stays in the air the longest usually goes the farthest so at this point I changed gears a bit and set my ‘next climb’ back to 350 fpm and tailwind at 18 mph to be a little more conservative.

At 4:00, I reluctantly grabbed my cell phone with a death grip and dialed Hang Glide Chicago to report my status as I was beginning to worry about the long retrieve. I couldn’t hear anyone on the other end because of the wind noise but reported that I was over 6000’ at the 164 mile mark. Arlan heard me; he and Warren headed out to Indiana.

Greg meanwhile had hit the same high cloud cover and glided into a big blue hole landing near Fort Wayne, Indiana for a 177 mile flight breaking the long standing Region 7 record. I entered the same blue hole and descended below 4000’ for the first time.

Long in the distance I could see a good line of cu’s and thought if I could only get to them, Ohio would certainly be within reach. I had several good climbs back above 6000’ and was still gliding well. I had visions of entering Ohio and breaking off a really long flight, when I found myself below 3000’ and then 2000’. The cu’s were just ahead of me as I scratched and clawed to stay airborne.

From 1500’ I latched onto a small patch of lift that pushed me eastward and slowly upward to 2200’. Searching and gliding, I bubbled along for a ½ hour before finally succumbing to the forces of gravity and landed north of Bryant, Indiana just 8 miles short of the Ohio border. Total distance was 213 miles in a little under 5 ½ hours. Whooeee!!! I am back in the saddle again!

As I walked the glider out of the field, a small cu formed above my head. A line of three nicely shaped cu’s pointed the way into Ohio. You do the math and figure what could have been.

I’ve had two days to critique the flight and although I flew fairly well, I did make several errors, which cost me miles. The most glaring was the start time. I kick myself again for not getting in the air by 11:00. I should have set the tailwind in the Tangent to 35 mph for the better part of the day.

In one thermal, I left good lift at 7500’ to fly upwind to a better looking cloud (what a waste of time. Duh!) only to get about what I left. The next was leaving 400 fpm at 7000’ to fly south to a dust devil ripping across the field. I lost 1000’ and never did hit lift. In retrospect I was probably in the lift from the dust devil as it snaked up to where I had been climbing.

All in all it was one awesome day. It certainly shows the incredible potential we have here in the flatlands. I only hope that I don’t have to wait another 12 years to better it again.

Wallaby Open – day one

Sun, Apr 16 2000, 5:00:00 pm EDT

Brian Porter|carbon fiber|Dave Sharp|David Glover|Ghostbuster|Hansjoerg Truttmann|Jamie Shelden|Jim Lamb|Joe Bostik|Johann Posch|Luiz Niemeyer|Manfred Ruhmer|Mark "Gibbo" Gibson|Mark Gibson|Quest Air|sailplane|Steve Kroop|Wallaby Open 2000|weather

Brian Porter|carbon fiber|Dave Sharp|David Glover|Ghostbuster|Hansjoerg Truttmann|Jamie Shelden|Jim Lamb|Joe Bostik|Johann Posch|John "Ole" Olson|Luiz Niemeyer|Manfred Ruhmer|Mark "Gibbo" Gibson|Mark Gibson|Quest Air|sailplane|Steve Kroop|Wallaby Open 2000|weather

(?-i)John "Ole" Olson|Brian Porter|carbon fiber|Dave Sharp|David Glover|Ghostbuster|Hansjoerg Truttmann|Jamie Shelden|Jim Lamb|Joe Bostik|Johann Posch|Luiz Niemeyer|Manfred Ruhmer|Mark "Gibbo" Gibson|Mark Gibson|Quest Air|sailplane|Steve Kroop|Wallaby Open 2000|weather

Brian Porter|carbon fiber|cart|Dave Sharp|David Glover|Ghostbuster|Hansjoerg Truttmann|Jamie Shelden|Jim Lamb|Joe Bostik|Johann Posch|John "Ole" Olson|Luiz Niemeyer|Manfred Ruhmer|Mark "Gibbo" Gibson|Mark Gibson|Quest Air|sailplane|Steve Kroop|Wallaby Open 2000|weather

Brian Porter|carbon fiber|cart|Dave Sharp|David Glover|Ghostbuster|Hansjoerg Truttmann|Jamie Shelden|Jamie Sheldon|Jim Lamb|Joe Bostik|Johann Posch|John "Ole" Olson|Luiz Niemeyer|Manfred Ruhmer|Mark "Gibbo" Gibson|Mark Gibson|Quest Air|sailplane|Steve Kroop|Wallaby Open 2000|weather

Brian Porter|carbon fiber|Dave Sharp|David Glover|Flytec 4030|Ghostbuster|Hansjoerg Truttmann|Jamie Shelden|Jim Lamb|Joe Bostik|Johann Posch|Luiz Niemeyer|Manfred Ruhmer|Mark "Gibbo" Gibson|Mark Gibson|Quest Air|sailplane|Steve Kroop|Wallaby Open 2000|weather

Let's hit the high points (the scoring isn't anywhere near done, heck the GPS verification isn't anywhere near done yet).

Class I and Class II pilots were divided into two separate start times. The start gates opened for Class II at 1, 1:15 and 1:30 PM. The flex wing's 3 start gates started at 1:45 PM.

The rigid wings lined up on one side of the launch, and all the flex wings on the other side. With the earlier start gate, the rigid wing pilots were given the preference for launch times, and with lots of trikes and tugs around, they got into the air real quick like.

There were cu's everywhere, but the cloud base was low (less than 4,000'). The weather forecast was for light west winds, and 30% chance of showers or thunderstorms later in the day. There must have been almost twenty rigid wings (mostly ATOSes and a few Ghostbusters) milling around waiting for the last start gate time. I didn't see the Millennium or the Swift at all.

While we were circling up, lots of exciting things were happening on the ground. Hansjoerg Truttman, who was second in line behind me, had his ATOS collapse on him on the cart. Hansjoerg has Felix's ATOS and his very, very thin carbon fiber downtubes with turbulator strips. The downtubes collapsed and broke Hansjoerg's Flytec 4030.

With lots of help from various Ranch support crewmembers, Hansjoerg got his replacement set of downtubes installed. Steve Kroop, from Flytec USA, came up with a brand new 4005 to replace Hansjoerg's. Didn't even know who he was giving it to.

Given the late start, Hansjoerg wasn't able to get the start gate until 15 minutes after the rest of us. This was to prove to be quite a boon for him.

Brian Porter in his Swift got his nose way up high right after launch and the trike pilot gave him the rope. He then proceeded to smash in his nose taking out some struts that held the skid plate. He could no longer launch (and land) on his back wheel and skid plate. The support crew put the Swift on a dollie, fixed up a new bridle and release and got Brian into the air way late for the rigid wings.

Betinho (Top Tape), a Brazilian pilot, had a very scary launch. He claims to have had ten aerotows a year ago, but didn't have an opportunity to aerotow here before the meet. He wasn't experienced enough to get it right the first time. He took off with his nose way high, he locked out to the right, broke the weaklink at about 80 feet, stalled the glider, went straight for the ground, and just barely recovered in time before pounding straight in. Not good.

Away from all the action on the ground, the rigid wing pilots were getting out on course slowly, huddling close to one another in the light lift and not getting higher then 3,800'. Dave Sharp, Mark Gibson and I were on top at the start gate, and Dave and I would stay on top of everyone for the next two thermals. Jim Zeiset, flying an ATOS and a CG Carbon Fiber harness, was doing much better than what we had seen in the past few meets.

About ten miles out at 474, the ten rigid wing pilots in the first gaggle spilt up and moved either north, east or west, but in the general direction of Quest Air (the first turnpoint). The clouds were thick, but the lift continued to be weak until Dave Sharp found a screamer a mile to the north of 474.

Jamie Sheldon in her red Exxtacy was with us in the gaggle, but she just wasn't doing as well. There were a number of Ghostbusters also in the first gaggle, but they weren't doing quite as well as the ATOSes (only my opinion, of course).

Hitting the big lift to the north got the rigid wing pilots excited and with everyone (almost) making it to cloudbase, we all started racing toward the turnpoint to the north at Quest Air. Oops, there was a rain cloud right there, just as we approached Quest.

We're just 3 miles off to the south east of Quest Air, working the lift on the east side of the rain. With the wind out of the west we are drifting away from the turnpoint, and at some point we are all forced to fly through the rain to get to the sunny spots on the other side.

I see Dave Sharp, Mark Gibson, Johann Posch, and other rigid wing pilots get very low at the turnpoint. Instead of joining them I head west 3 miles under a cloud street away from the rain and the turnpoint, getting down to 1,000' but finding lift over the dark ground. Meanwhile Dave Sharp and another pilot find some lift over Quest, but everyone else in the neighborhood decks it there. Fortunately there are beers all around for pilots who land at Quest or nearby, thanks to the folks from Quest.

While we are struggling at the turnpoint, Hansjoerg is racing after us trying to make up for his fifteen-minute handicap. Give the light lift at first this tactic just puts him almost on the deck and now he is struggling low way behind us. As he works himself out of a hole, he sees the first of the flex wing pilots out on course coming his way. He can head off on his own, but decides that it is a better idea to join up with the flexies.

As Dave Sharp gets up at the turnpoint, I get up way to 3,300' way to the west, and start back to get it. Unfortunately, I don't find anymore lift and have to land about two miles to the north west of Quest. Dave gets a 200 fpm thermal just to the south east of me, and now is trapped behind a line of rain to the south west on course line to the Fantasy of Flight.

The flex wing pilots skirt the rain line going to the east and a number of them make the turnpoint with Hansjoerg in tow. Betinho, Joe Bostik, and numerous others have landed out at the Seminole sailplane port on their way toward the turnpoint.

Manfred,Luiz Niemeyer, and Hansjoerg, head downwind far to the east after making the turnpoint, to get away from the line of rain showers south of Quest. Dave Sharp, Johnny Carr (in the GB), and Jim Lamb (ATOS) all land across the street from the sail plane port.

A while later folks at the Ranch notice three pilots way high over the Ranch heading back up wind toward the Fantasy of Flight. It had been raining hard at the Ranch but that was over with by the time these three pilots came over. They had run straight south down highway 27 a mile east of the Ranch and were now headed ten miles west upwind to the second turnpoint.

Manfred, Luiz, and Hansjoerg were able to get the turnpoint at Fantasy of Flight, and make it back a short ways toward the goal at the Ranch. Hansjoerg, on the ATOS, flew the furthest. Manfred and Luiz lead the flex wing class.

Given the high percentage of pilots that didn't go over half way, the day will be devalued quite a bit. A lot of good work for not that many points.

Sorry about the lack of pictures, but the staff photographer was not working as hard as he should.

Staff photographer: David Glover