Oz Report

They stopped to help

Barraba Big Toe 2021|Peter Burkitt|scoring|Scott Barrett|Troy Horton|William "Billo" Olive

(Barraba airport, NSW, Australia)

Regarding the zeros on the second task, Billo writes:

I'll have to average those pilots (Scott, Pete and Troy) for round two after the final round. So, not fixed until then. Assisted a pilot after deployment. The pilot who deployed is OK, but won't be flying further this comp.

Discuss "2021 Barraba Big Toe Hang Gliding Competition" at the Oz Report forum   link»   »

The $5 million dollar question

They are asking for a lot more coverage

Christopher Moody|insurance|PG|Risk Retention Group|USHPA|William "Billo" Olive

Site owners are asking for more coverage because AIG (reinsurance) is asking for more coverage. This from the Jackson Hole Free Flight Club:

The document here.

Effective June 1^st, 2021, ALL RECREATIONAL FREE FLIGHT WILL BE SUSPENDED AT THE JACKSON HOLE MOUNTAIN RESORT. We are working hard to come up with a solution and ask that all pilots stand down and respect this closure to increase our chances of negotiating long-term access.

Why is this happening?

AIG/Mountain Guard is an international company that insures many lift-serviced ski resorts in North America (including JHMR, Telluride, Sun Valley and more). AIG/Mountain Guard recently changed their policies to specifically exclude paragliding and hang gliding, unless such activities are covered by a policy carrying at least $5 million in coverage. Although we always purchase insurance coverage for our club and its members, a $5 million policy is many times greater than any policy currently available for purchase through the RRRG, the provider set up by our national free flight organization USHPA.

USHPA’s Recreation Risk Retention Group has known that these changes to AIG's policy were coming, and our national representatives have been looking for solutions. Unfortunately, no solution currently exists as this level of coverage is substantially above and beyond the industry standard. Reaching AIG's $5 million threshold would require dramatic changes like layering coverage from multiple international providers or developing (and funding) a new in-house policy for affected clubs. This is especially difficult because most insurance companies have specific exclusions for aviation-related activity, so our options are extremely limited. The RRRG had hoped to have some solutions worked out before JHMR's contract with AIG renewed, but unfortunately we are not there yet.

William Olive (Australia) writes:

Welcome to our world in Oz. One of the reasons that SAFA (HGFA) membership is expensive is our necessity to have AUD$20,000,000 insurance to cover third party damages. This insurance is required by National Parks, councils and other State bodies in order to negotiate access to sites under their control.

Current SAFA fees are found here. $315/year + state fees + club fees. You are required by Australian law to be a member of the SAFA if you fly a hang glider or paraglider.

Rollin', rollin', rollin'

Keep them gliders rollin'

William "Billo" Olive

Robert Osfield writes:

Part 2: Basics of how flex-wing hang gliders roll (apologises for long post). Content can be freely shared.

If the previous post on the topic "Basics of how flex-wing hang gliders roll" I focused on how the lateral movement of the pilot moves to initiate roll displaces the Centre Of Mass of the Pilot/Wing combination laterally from the Centre of Lift and Drag to create a roll and yaw moment that initiates both roll and adverse yaw. In this post I'll discuss what happens next to our wings.

The displacement of centre of mass from the centre of Lift and Drag creates a Roll and Yaw moment. If your LD is 10:1 then you'll general 10 times more roll moment than yaw moment. The moment of inertial of a hang glider is pretty similar in roll and yaw so these roll and yaw moments roughly accelerate the roll into the turn around 10 times as much as the adverse that occurs.

The roll and adverse yaw accelerations accumulate to give us a rolling motion into the turn, and yaw motion away from the turn. The rolling motion changes the angle of attack across the wing, with the down going wing experiencing an increase in angle of attack, and the up going wing experiences a decrease in angle of attack. The change of angle attack changes the lift distribution across the wing, this generates a roll moment that impedes the roll motion - this is roll damping. It can also be thought of as the centre of lift shifting towards the descending wing acting to cancel out the horizontal shift in centre of mass. In the case of a flexi-wing hang glider this change in AoA and spanwise loading results change twist that helps reduce the apparent AoA and reduce the damping seen. Once the roll damping moments equals the moment due to weight shift and the roll reaches it's maximum speed, if you remove the weight shift this damping will then slow the rolling motion and eventually stop the rolling motion.

The roll doesn't happen in isolation, the increase in angle of attack on the down going wing shifts the lift vector forward pulling the down going wing forward. The opposite happens on the up going wing with a reduced angle of attack sees the lift vector rolled backs pulling the up going wing backwards. Both wings in this instance are creating and adverse yaw moment. The faster you roll the greater this contribution to adverse yaw and works in addition to the yaw moment due to horizontal displacement of the centre of mass from the centre of drag.

The adverse yaw movements acts to yaw the wing away from the direction of the turn so now the wing is jawing away from the turn. Yaw stability acts to oppose this yaw and will help yaw the wing into the turn - side slip into the turn also adds yaw and can help kick the wing into the roll.

As well as yaw moment into the turn due to yaw stability, our wings roll stability will also come into affect when the wing is yawed (note, it's the yaw angle relative to the on coming airflow that creates the roll moments, not roll angle.) The roll moment generated by yaw opposes the rolling motion into the turn, the more roll stability the glider has the greater this moment opposing the rolling moment.

The roll and yaw dynamics of roll initiation, damping and stability are all interlinked. Too much stability can render a wing uncontrollable in roll in weight shift. The same applies to roll damping, too much roll damping and the roll motion will build up too slowly compared to yawing motion away from the turn. This balance is not static either, at different speeds we see different amounts of roll and yaw damping, roll and yaw stability as well as a different amount of roll and yaw moment due to the LD changing.

Hang gliders designers have to carefully balance stability and stiffness of the wing to make them controllable. Features like variable geometry/billow enables your to adjust the properties of the wing in flight - pulling the cross tubes backwards tightens the sail and reduces washout and increases stiffness and associated damping, it also increase anhedral. There are also highly non linear effects such as when the sail hits washout rods, luff lines engaging - these rapidly stiffen the wing. This is one reason why flying on the lower end of the weight range for a glider can lead to far less controlability that you might otherwise expect.

For all the efforts in refining the balance of wing flexibility to reduce damping and refinement of stability using weight shift for control remains a bit limiting factor on design. The span of a wing has a huge affect on the amount of roll damping - it goes up with the square of span. If you increase span then you have to increase flexibility of the wing to keep the rolling damping down, this increases flexibility results in more washout, which impacts performance - robbing the design of it's potential gains from increasing span.

This trade off has been pretty intractable - for all the efforts on fancy tips, floating cross tubes, VB, lightweight carbon fibre tube, advanced sail materials the sweet spot for span of flexi-wing hang glider is now almost identical to what it was back in the late 70's.

This has also meant that the big improvements in weight shift hang glider has been almost entirely at the upper end rather than min sink - reducing washout, cleaning up the sail and removing upper rigging are all much easier to deliver than increase span.

To change the trade-offs in controllability, stability and performance significantly the most radical design development has been rigid wings with aerodynamic controls for roll - increasing span and reducing washout can be achieved without compromising controllability.

There are also design approaches for flexi-wing hang gliders that either haven't been tried or not fully developed, so I don't think it's necessarily a dead end for weight shift control hang glider design. Trying something radical is costly in time and money, with a small market to serve the risk/reward tradeoff doesn't favour radical changes. Perhaps one would need to be as creative with funding, and pooling design and development as you'd need to be in the actual design work itself...

As a general comment, any time luff lines or sprongs/tip rods engage during a rolling motion the effect will be to reduce the aeroelasticity of the wing and impede roll motion - making handling worse. A properly set up wing should avoid engagement of these devices in normal flight conditions - they exist just to maintain pitch stability at low and negative angles of attack.

— with Pete Osborn and Érico Miranda Schmitt

Discuss "Rollin', rollin', rollin'" at the Oz Report forum   link»

The way we roll

With a flexible wing

William "Billo" Olive

Robert Osfield writes:

Basics of how flex-wing hang gliders roll

I'm writing this post in response to Érico Miranda Schmitt's recent question on this topic. Back in the nineties I worked a bit for Airwave on the design side and wrote articles on theory for Skywings and the old hang gliding mailing list. (For those with long memories my wife and I combined surnames on marriage, you'll find all my ancient posts under Robert Osborn.)

The most simple explanation to start with would be roll of hang glider involves a combination of forces generated directly by weight shift and active/passive wing warping & stability. In this post I'll focus on the direct weight shift contribution.

It's important to understand that it's possible to roll a completely rigid hang glider purely from weight shift, but the roll rate you can achieve because of roll damping will be too small to be flyable, for all but very small wing span rigid wings where the roll damping can be reduced. My guess is a 8m span rigid wing would be controllable with weight shift. Sink rate and best glide would be poorer than modern flex-wings due to the stubby wings though.

Another important element of dynamic of roll of a weight shift hang glider is that when we shift our weight laterally we offset our mass from both the centre of lift, which creates the roll moment, and the center of drag, which creates a adverse yaw moment. If you have low lift and high drag at your current angle of attack then you'll get a larger adverse yaw moment for given roll input than you would when you have higher lift and lower drag. This can have a really profound affect on controllability of our wings so worth re-reading this paragraph and thinking about the forces in your head.

Consequences of the above relationship between roll and adverse yaw can help explain when controllability is diminished and how when it's optimized. When the L/D ratio is high we'll get the most favorable balance of roll for adverse yaw, and when we push out we also increase the roll forces, but when we pull in we temporarily lower the lift and our potential roll moment. So to optimize roll rate you want to pull faster than best glide, then ease the bar our as you shift left/right to give you some extra lift and roll moment whilst minimizing the adverse yaw.

Now controllability is compromised when the L/D ratio starts to drop, and it's most critical as we approach stall - here drag is increasing rapidly whilst lift can be dropping, perhaps rapidly. What happens here is our achievable roll moment for a lateral shift diminishes while the adverse yaw increases really rapidly. This adverse yaw in turn leads to both yaw that rolls you in the opposite direction and yawing motion that speeds up the wing you are loading, and slows the opposite - which shifts the lift towards the loaded wing preventing the intended roll and perhaps rolling you in the opposite direction.

This effect is why you often see folks drop a wing on landing even when they strongly weight shift to oppose a wing lifting. If you are flying around best L/D you'll have a chance to oppose the lifted wing, but if you are getting near stall the adverse yaw moment due to the increase in drag will overwhelm your roll inputs. In these situations it can be best to just stay centered and flare hard to stall the whole wing as quickly as possible rather than make things worse by attempting to counter the lifting wing.

This adverse yaw induced control reversal at low speed is something that some pilots and glider combinations take advantage of - at really low speed shift left and pushing out can be used to turn you right, and visa-vesa. As long as this doesn't cause a tip stall you can mush around "somewhat" in control. Something for advanced pilots to play with when high on a ridge soaring day when well away from other folks.

OK. So I've written lots and haven't even mentioned wing warping / billow shift / floating cross tubes, A-frame geometry / raised hang points, roll and yaw stability. These are all important but this post is already packed with enough crucial ideas that adding more will just confuse things. So first get your head around the above ideas. I will write about these other influences in a follow up post.

Discuss "The way we roll" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Pete's Parachute

Australia 1994

Facebook|Ian Duncan|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Pete Lehmann|William "Billo" Olive

It's Pete's story that got me to go to Australia.

William Olive writes:

I'm pretty sure I've posted this before, but Ian's '94 Hay pics prompted me to find it again. That year was a comp of attrition for some. This is Pete Lehmann under chute, one of at least two that day at that comp. From faulty memory the car is John Silver's (name could be wrong). It drove on to the chute and prevented Pete from being further trashed, although I don't think that much was salvagable of his gear.

Phil Shroder writes:

I thought the windmill downwind of the tow paddock stopped the chute from dragging him further. He came close to getting dragged into the dam if not for the windmill. He also dropped his GPS in the tumble but it was found later and still worked.

William Olive writes:

You're right. He landed in the dam, which very much softened his landing. You can see the windmill on the right of the pic.

Ian Duncan writes:

There was also the US pilots horrific lockout. The guy who had designed and built a new vario. He got hit by a strong thermal on tow. His nose pitched up severely and he lost the base bar, leaving him hanging behind and out of reach of the A-frame.

The car stopped but they had no lockout release on the line so the thermal just kept pushing him up. Eventually the glider rotated to the left putting him in a dive like a kite doing a loop. Luckily he was high enough to clear the ground after the first dive and he went straight back up still hanging behind the A-frame.

Nearing the top of the second climb the base bar came back into his hands and as he came to the top of the climb he pushed out and the weaklink finally broke but this left him fully stalled. The glider pitched down into a dive which he only just managed to pull out of just short of the ground. He then did a perfect cross wind landing a few lanes to the right of us.

Horrific to watch the whole thing happen at my first ever flatlands comp. I think we had a driver operated lockout release on our car and I never car towed without one after seeing that happen. John Trude had an horrific accident the following year because they also didn't have a lockout release.

Thanks for Supporting the Community

We've received more donations

Gregg "Kim" Ludwig|Richard Burton|Ron Gleason|Tom McGowan|William "Billo" Olive

https://secure.givelively.org/donate/cloudbase-foundation-inc/assist-big-spring-texas-foster-kids

For seventeen years the City of Big Spring has very generously supported hang gliding competition by providing us with unlimited access to their airport (a former airbase with a ten thousand foot runway). They go all out to welcome us to their town feeding us on the opening night, giving us free water and ice cream. We get to set up our gliders in a hangar if we like. The EMS guys are on site for any issues (we've never really had anything other than minor scrapes).

This year were are putting on the pre-Pan-Americans. Teams from Mexico and Guatemala have made it possible for us to hold this meet. We are looking forward to a big competition in 2020.

We would like to raise $5,000 so that we can get $5,000 matching from the Cloudbase Foundation. You can help us out by supporting the good folks of Big Spring.

Thanks to those who have donated in the last twenty four hours: Charlie Allen, Ron Gleason and Phillip Morgan.

We've raised over $3,000 by Friday morning.

Wow! Great response. Nathan Wreyford's 91-year year old Grandmother wrote a check for $500 to the Cloudbase Foundation for Big Spring which we'll get when we get to Big Spring. Also multiple donations have come in today on Friday from: Gregory Billow, Gregg Ludwig, Frank Tona, and Daniel Lukaszewicz.

Thanks so much.

I know that the 2019 Big Spring Nationals is a very expense meet ($600 for aero towing, for example) so I have been reluctant to ask for more. So it is great to see all these donations.

So far we've raised over $4,000 which means that we can give at least $8,000 to the Rainbow Room.

Thanks again.

Well, now (Saturday afternoon) we are over $4,500 with very generous support from Mike Duffy and Tom McGowan. Thanks guys.

Thanks to Richard Burton and Victor Hare for additional donations on Sunday.

Looking for feedback

William "Billo" Olive|Gavin Griffith-Jones

Gavin Griffith-Jones «Gavin Griffith-Jones» writes:

As an aging ex-hang glider pilot, I am less inclined to carry heavy gliders around, and have less time to drive to hang gliding launch sites (and often, from one to the next). I am also quite happy to forgo foot launch and landing, in favor of wheels. This aircraft concept is intended to meet the following needs:

1. Convenience - as a self-launching motorglider, it offers much greater scope for finding a suitable site (compared to hang gliders) - any large field, beach, airstrip etc. will suffice for operation.

2. Performance - designed to have glide performance equaling or bettering that of a hang glider, it will be capable of lengthy cross country flights as a glider.

3. Portability - it can be carried on a typical station wagon. The wing element will travel on a roof rack; the other components can travel on or in the vehicle. (It can be stored in a normal garage as well as a car - the wing component hanging from the roof).

4. Economic - based on traditional flex wing hang glider technology - alloy spars and sailcloth. This is a relatively cheap way of constructing a wing (compared to composite technologies). Not just economic to build, the flex wing also has advantages of being robust, easy to check for damage, and easy to maintain. Design details

Controls

The aircraft will offer conventional 3-axis controls (stick and rudder pedals). I believe this will appeal to a larger potential market (GA pilots, glider pilots, pilot training building hours), than 2-axis weight shift control. Roll control - will use ailerons (or possibly spoilerons). This opens the way to have a longer, tighter wing (think a hang glider with the VG on full); giving better glide performance. Pitch control - will use weight shift; the entire wing (including keel and tail surfaces) will pivot fore and aft with respect to the pilot. Yaw control - achieved through a cable-operated rudder surface, which provides the 3^rd axis of control (allowing for better coordinated turns).

Structure

Stabiliser - a fixed horizontal stabiliser - providing pitch stability via down force (for longitudinal dihedral). This is NOT used for pitch control (that is done via weight shift). The stabilizer is removable and can be stored in the same bag as the wing.

Main wing - based on a flex wing hang glider, with the following modifications:

1. Cable - operated ailerons. These surfaces can be folded away as part of the wing, after battens have been removed.

2. Increased wing span, and a tighter sail, are possible (increasing flight performance) as billow shift is not needed (due to the use of ailerons for roll control).

3. Higher performance airfoil shape (negative moment coefficient airfoils) can be used, due to the use of a horizontal stabilizer for pitch stability.

4. The keel and crossbars will need to be reinforced due to the absence of wire bracing. In a conventional topless wing, these are rated to around -3G; they will need to be around twice as strong to handle +6G. The crossbars can (if it makes economic sense) be constructed of alloy rather than carbon (a few extra KG here is of less importance, as the wing will never be foot launched / landed).

5. Sidewires - are optional - a tradeoff between a wire braced structure that can be lighter, at the cost of increased drag.

Engine - a small petrol engine (most likely sourced from paramotor technology) provides enough power for self-launch. Positioned near the CG (as shown) means it can (if desired) be removed, and the aircraft flown as a pure glider. The propeller can be forward-folding to reduce drag in gliding flight.

Pod - A streamlined pod encloses the pilot for reduced drag. A main wheel allows for takeoff and landing.

Prototyping

1. While a composite pod would be ideal for light weight, strength (including consideration of crash protection) and streamlining, a prototype could use an alloy frame and fiberglass / fabric fairing (as is done on many trike-style microlights).

2. While directions for development of a customized wing have already been discussed, a convention topless wing could be used for prototyping - with strengthened keel and crossbars, and the addition of ailerons.

Discuss "Goal: To create a safe, fun, portable single-seat self-launching glider" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

When we were young

Before paragliding

James Bradley|PG|William "Billo" Olive

http://www.paraglidingforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=p578331#p578331

1978, billowing spring day at Dunstable. Clouds racing. That's me in the air, teenager, high, and so excited. The guy on the ground is just hurrying off with the money I had given him for the hang glider. It was a Spirit, and yes with the sunset the sky WAS that colour. 'it matches the glider -it's a good omen', the guy had told me.

Then over his shoulder he shouted, 'airspeed! Pull in, AIRSPEED!'

Behind me the old man with the military moustache stood there and watched. I landed at the bottom of the hill. Then as I struggled back up the hill with the hang glider on my back and I knew that as soon as I'd reached the top he would say, 'shouldn't be allowed!' Or 'that's not safe!' Or 'you should be more responsible!'

As I approached I could see that his eyes were watering from the wind and then suddenly it seemed he could no longer hold himself back, and shaking with emotion he shouted, 'marvelous, just marvelous!'

Then just as quickly he turned, winced, and slowly limped back down the footpath.

I packed the glider onto an old rusty roof rack that I'd bolted on top of my yellow Ford Escort, and for the first time that day I thought about food. The wind was stronger, and it was getting cold and dark.

Thanks to James Bradley.

Discuss "When we were young" at the Oz Report forum   link»

NSW Hang Gliding State Titles 2019

Final results from day 5, task 4, the last task

William "Billo" Olive

http://www.williamolive.com/manilla/index.html

http://www.williamolive.com/manilla/2019/comp results 2014.html

Billo writes:

Friday and Saturday are forecast for strong winds. The comp is finalized and the results are at http://www.williamolive.com/manilla/index.html

Discuss "NSW Hang Gliding State Titles 2019" at the Oz Report forum   link»

NSW Hang Gliding State Titles 2019

Results from day 5, task 4

Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|photo|William "Billo" Olive

http://www.williamolive.com/manilla/index.html

http://www.williamolive.com/manilla/2019/comp results 2014.html

Guy Hubbard on launch:

Task 4:

Cumulative:

The conditions on this day (photos from Billo):

NSW Hang Gliding State Titles 2019

Results from day 4

video|William "Billo" Olive

http://www.williamolive.com/manilla/index.html

http://www.williamolive.com/manilla/2019/comp%252520results%2525202014.html

Billo writes:

Day four canned. OD, strong conditions and wind made settling a task a bit difficult. The storms are around now.

https://vimeo.com/318377379

Discuss "NSW Hang Gliding State Titles 2019" at the Oz Report forum   link»

NSW Hang Gliding State Titles 2019

Results from day 2

Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|video|William "Billo" Olive

http://www.williamolive.com/manilla/index.html

http://www.williamolive.com/manilla/2019/comp results 2014.html

Task 2:

Cumulative:

Billo's shot from day two takeoff.

Video from the first day: https://vimeo.com/317925263

Pliable Moose

Manifolds

William "Billo" Olive

Gary writes:

Experimental Pliable Moose Shearwater, circa late '74. 38% higher AR than anything at the time.

There were two folds per side, with the inner fold in the vertical plane only (not too evident from this shot) and the outer fold in both vertical and horizontal planes (latter quite evident right wing in photo). The two folds are defined by the axes of the brown undersurface on either side of the orange panels in this pic. Making the double surface sail conform cleanly to the geometry of the planform was a real trick but came out nicely on first try. The lift distribution was tailored toward a bell shaped curve, similar to the superb work Al Bowers at NASA has been doing with the Prandtl D Wing. The DT was not so penalized by the twist distribution of rogallo derivatives with significant billow, yet it had billow that allowed for very benign parachute type landings.

Discuss "Pliable Moose" at the Oz Report forum   link»

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2017 New South Wales State Titles

Glen wins the day again, two firsts and two seconds

CIVL|Facebook|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand snr|New South Wales State Titles 2017|PG|William "Billo" Olive

From yesterday's goal:

Billo responded to my screed about the screwed up scoring system that they are using at the New South Wales Titles. Of course, it's the paraglider version of the GAP scoring system. I just wrote about this as the paraglider pilots at the CIVL Plenary recognized that it wasn't working out. They also have only one start time. It totally is screwing with the scoring at Manilla.

Why do we have these people in charge who have no clue? Billo was told to use it.

Today, the paraglider scoring system "worked" because many of the pilots took the forth start clock and none took the first two.

http://www.williamolive.com/manilla/2017/comp results 2014.html

Task 4:

Cumulative:

Bruce Wynn "arrives" at goal:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BQ2ZvxYlCKM/

New South Wales State Titles

Starts Sunday

Facebook|William "Billo" Olive

http://www.nhgc.asn.au/node/2188

They might have to wait until Monday.

Billo writes:

Manilla, State titles comp day one. Uninspiring and no task today.

Quadcopter view:

Discuss "New South Wales State Titles" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2016 Central West Classic

FAI Sporting License

Central West Classic 2016|Facebook|William "Billo" Olive

Billo <fly> writes:

Any pilots who wants his (or her) scores to be counted for their international pilot rankings must provide me with their FAI number ASAP. You can email to me or message me on Facebook.

Discuss "2016 Central West Classic" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Batten clips open to create spiral dive

DHV testing

Battens|Icaro 2000|Manfred Ruhmer|USHPA|video|William "Billo" Olive

http://ozreport.com/19.069#1

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=32806

Icaro MastR: Spiral dive w/o recovery - batten clips opened

The plastic batten clips (produced by Airborne and used by many other hang gliding manufacturers) of an Icaro 2000 MastR (size M) hang glider with Dacron sail cloth opened after the pilot steered into a steep banked downward turn. The glider then entered a stable steep spiral dive with the inside wing billowing considerably more than the outer wing. The experienced pilot could not end the spiral dive.

The pilot was lucky to survive, although with serious injuries.

The incident happened one and a half years ago in southern Germany (Rauschberg) on October 26^th, 2013.

Recently the German DHV asked a test pilot (Tim Grabowski, employed by the rigid wing manufacturer A.I.R.) to perform a test flight in a MastR. Tim also didn’t succeed in recovering from the spiral dive after the inboard clips (1-5) opened. He was lucky to deploy his reserve just in time close to the ground.

Two accident investigation reports issued by the DHV (Klaus Tänzler) blaming solely the pilot have been silently withdrawn from the DHV website.

The DHV then issued a warning urging pilots to inspect their plastic batten clips, but so far it is reluctant to publish the video of the DHV test flight (from what I heard though, things get out of control very rapidly with an even worse spiral dive).

I asked Icaro 2000 (Manfred Ruhmer) for an official statement on these incidents, but so far only received answers not meant to be made publicly available.

Video of the original accident: https://vimeo.com/106099298

DHV-warning (March 12, 2015): http://www.dhv.de/db1/source/technicdatareportnotes.php?lang=de&item=233

Questions:

Have any similar incidents been reported elsewhere? Can failing batten clips lead to a severe or even catastrophic loss of controllability? Is the USHPA familiar with the problem and have they been informed by the German DHV? Does the design of the MastR differ from other hang gliding designs making them more susceptible for batten clips to fail with subsequent severe loss of controllability?

Discuss "Batten clips open to create spiral dive" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Dalby Big Air - Day 5

One pilot at goal and no one else nearby

(Dalby, Queensland, Australia)

Curt Warren|Dalby Big Air 2015|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand snr|Konrad Heilmann|Phil Schroder|William "Billo" Olive

http://williamolive.com/dalby/comp results 2015.html

Photo by Billo

Task 5:

Cumulative:

Photo by Phil Schroder.

Dalby Big Air HG 2014

Billo re rescores day one

(Dalby, Queensland, Australia)

Adam Parer|Cameron Tunbridge|Curt Warren|John Smith|Konrad Heilmann|Steve Blenkinsop|Tim Osborn|William "Billo" Olive

Adam Parer|Cameron Tunbridge|Curt Warren|John Smith|Konrad Heilmann|Moyes Litespeed RX|Steve Blenkinsop|Tim Osborn|William "Billo" Olive

Adam Parer|Cameron Tunbridge|Curt Warren|John Smith|Konrad Heilmann|Moyes Litespeed RX|Steve Blenkinsop|Tim Osborn|William "Billo" Olive

http://www.williamolive.com/dalby/2014/

After a protest about using altitude to determine virtual distance and pulling out the king posted pilots (for their own sport class) Billo produces:

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Dalby Big Air HG 2014

Billo rescores day one

(Dalby, Queensland, Australia)

Adam Parer|Cameron Tunbridge|Conrad Loten|Curt Warren|John Smith|Konrad Heilmann|Steve Blenkinsop|Tim Osborn|William "Billo" Olive|Wills Wing

Adam Parer|Cameron Tunbridge|Conrad Loten|Curt Warren|John Smith|Konrad Heilmann|Moyes Litespeed RX|Steve Blenkinsop|Tim Osborn|William "Billo" Olive|Wills Wing

Adam Parer|Cameron Tunbridge|Conrad Loten|Curt Warren|John Smith|Konrad Heilmann|Moyes Litespeed RX|Steve Blenkinsop|Tim Osborn|William "Billo" Olive|Wills Wing

http://www.williamolive.com/dalby/2014/

Original scoring: http://ozreport.com/18.66#9

The new version of the FS scoring program allows one to score a distance based on your altitude when the task was stopped.

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Good karma to all

(Scenic/Strezie LP, Newcastle, NSW, Australia)

Facebook|William "Billo" Olive

Billo on his hit and run

https://OzReport.com/18.020#4

Billo writes on Facebook:

Many thanks to all of you for your kind wishes, I'm out of hospital and home now.

I was riding to work when the accident happened. I was knocked unconscious for 10~20 minutes and in fact I have no memory at all of the ride to work that morning. I remember kissing Julie good bye and then I remember slowly waking up thinking "I must get up for work". Then the pain set in and I slowly realised the concerned people around seemed to be strangers and paramedics. I seemed to be in a little pain (the paras had already hit me with dazzle juice) and I seemed to be dressed in my riding clobber yet I am lying on the road.

As best I can put it together from the witnesses, the police and from what Matty said the ambulance blokes told him later, it seems I had crossed a merge lane and was clipped by a car who was over in the breakdown lane. I went down hard on my left side and have ribs 2~7 broken, a punctured lung and a fractured scapula.

Despite my earnest desire to save money it does appear as though I will need to purchase another helmet, since the one I was wearing is pretty much stuffed. It was a hardshell skateboard helmet and the outer hardshell is cracked right through for about 120mm on the back left, and it shows I hit and skidded down on my left temple area. Two hits and a slide down the road. I will never wear anything but a hard shell helmet-ever. I reckon that if I didn't have it on I'd be dead or a vegetable. I reckon if it had been a soft shell the outcome wouldn't have been so good either. You pays your money and you takes your chances I guess.

My left boot has a good set of scuff marks from a rub down the road. Forensics on the bike tell much the same story; all the damage is on the left side. And that damage is pretty much confined to scuffed bar tape on the LH bar. Not even the brake levers are bent, you could straddle it and ride it away no worries.

It'll be a little while before I will be able to straddle the bike again, maybe 6~8 weeks. It'll be at least 4 weeks before I'm back at work, maybe more. As far as the car that got me, well, I can't remember a thing. I really wish I could but nothings coming back there.

There's so little damage to the bike's right side that I'm just going to say that they clipped me so slightly that they haven't noticed. There's no value in wishing revenge, I'd just like to send out good Karma vibes, heal up and get on with life.

As it is, I'll miss the Manilla comp (Splint has said he'd score) and the loop the lake charity ride Thanks to all who have donated there, there's no real chance I'll make the ride, but the rest of the team will and the donations are still going to a very worthy cause. At the moment I'm thinking I should be OK for towing and scoring the Dalby comp.

Hit and run while he was biking

(Scenic/Strezie LP, Newcastle, NSW, Australia)

Facebook|Mathew Olive|William "Billo" Olive

Billo banged up

From Mathew Olive on Facebook:

William Olive was involved in a cowardly hit and run this morning while riding his push bike to work. He is in good spirits. He has two fractured ribs, broken shoulder blade and some other cuts and abrasions. All his scans have cleared him of any spinal injuries And is expected at the moment to make a full recovery. His helmet has saved his life today.

While many people would be aware Billo was training for the Loop The Lake Ride where he was generously raising funds for John Hunter Children's Hospital. It will be very unlikely he will be able to complete the ride now, but I'm sure it would be very much appreciated if people could donate even a small amount towards his charity. Billo is very sore and tired at the moment and needs some rest. So if people would like to visit it might be worth waiting a day or two. If any one would like more information on when to visit or how he is doing feel free to call me.

Wed, Dec 25 2013, 2:21:21 pm EST

Also caught in the cloud

It looked blue ahead

(Lockwood+Valley)

video|William "Billo" Olive

http://socalxc.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/catching-up.html

The southern cloud street had filled in from when I first arrived at Lockwood. Despite that, from my angle near base, the cloud line didn’t look very wide. The shadows on the ground should have been a tell, but at the time I thought most of the darkness was caused by the stuff billowing up above Frazier. The fact that there was nothing but blue skies on the other side of the clouds was probably the main factor for me continuing on. That, and the fact that I’ve seen these conditions before near Frazier, and made it through to the other side without issue.

As I left the lift near Grade to go on my glide I thought I was in perfect position. By the time that I would reach the last line of clouds I would lose enough altitude to scoot underneath them. If I did encounter any lift I would already be close enough to the other side to avoid any trouble. Of course, that didn’t happen; if anything I gained altitude.

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2013 Gulgong Classic

Task two:

(Gulgong, NSW, Australia)

Adam Parer|Attila Bertok|Conrad Loten|Curt Warren|Enda Murphy|Gulgong Classic 2013|Jamie Shelden|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Konrad Heilmann|Paris Williams|Phil Schroder|William "Billo" Olive

Billo's photo of the Gulgong airfield:

His refurbished trike.

Task two:

Cumulative:

http://www.williamolive.com/gulgong classic/2013 competition/

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Where for clouds

They don't just happen, you know

Ron Gleason|William "Billo" Olive

http://www.livescience.com/29472-how-cirrus-clouds-form.html

It has long been a mystery exactly what causes the formation of cirrus clouds, the wispy billows of ice that can be seen high in the sky. But new research, detailed in the May 9 issue of the journal Science, finds that the clouds condense and freeze, or nucleate, on very specific mineral and metal particles high in the atmosphere. That makes cirrus clouds unique: Most other clouds form primarily by condensing onto organic particles, said study author Dan Cziczo, an atmospheric chemist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/3410-amazon-fungi-atmosphere.html

In the Amazon rain forest, salty particles from spore-launching fungi help make clouds and rain, according to new research.

The tiny, potassium-rich specks, smaller than bacteria, waft above the forest into the air. Once in the atmosphere, organic gases condense on the particles, coating them with gel-like compounds. The coated particles provide a surface for water vapor to form cloud droplets and rain.

Thanks to Ron Gleason

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The Dalby Big Air 2013

Final results

(Dalby Airport, Queensland, Australia)

Adam Parer|Attila Bertok|Conrad Loten|Grant Heaney|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand snr|Moyes Litespeed RX|Nick Purcell|Steve Blenkinsop|William "Billo" Olive

William Olive <<William.Olive>> sends:

http://www.williamolive.com/dalby/comp results.html

Task 6:

Total:

Looks like Attila almost lost it on the last day. He didn't make goal and if he had gone 5 km less he would have lost it.

The Dalby Big Air 2013

Results from day 5

(Dalby Airport, Queensland, Australia)

Attila Bertok|Cameron Tunbridge|Conrad Loten|Grant Heaney|Jon Durand snr|Moyes Litespeed RX|Nick Purcell|Steve Blenkinsop|Trent Brown|William "Billo" Olive

William Olive <<William.Olive>> sends:

http://www.williamolive.com/dalby/comp results.html

Task 5:

Cumulative:

The Dalby Big Air 2013

Results from day 4

(Dalby Airport, Queensland, Australia)

Adam Parer|Attila Bertok|Cameron Tunbridge|Conrad Loten|Grant Heaney|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand snr|Moyes Litespeed RX|Nick Purcell|Steve Blenkinsop|William "Billo" Olive

William Olive <<William.Olive>> sends:

http://www.williamolive.com/dalby/comp results.html

Task 4:

Cumulative:

The Dalby Big Air 2013

Results from day 3

(Dalby Airport, Queensland, Australia)

Adam Parer|Attila Bertok|Cameron Tunbridge|Conrad Loten|Facebook|Grant Heaney|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand snr|Moyes Litespeed RX|Nick Purcell|Steve Blenkinsop|William "Billo" Olive

William Olive <<William.Olive>> sends:

http://www.williamolive.com/dalby/comp results.html

Task 3:

Total:

The Dalby airfield:

The Dalby Big Air 2013

Results from day 2

(Dalby Airport, Queensland, Australia)

Attila Bertok|Cameron Tunbridge|Conrad Loten|Grant Heaney|Moyes Litespeed RX|Nick Purcell|Steve Blenkinsop|Trent Brown|William "Billo" Olive

William Olive <<William.Olive>> sends:

http://www.williamolive.com/dalby/comp results.html

Totals:

The Dalby Big Air 2013

Results from day 1

(Dalby Airport, Queensland, Australia)

Adam Parer|Attila Bertok|Conrad Loten|Grant Heaney|Moyes Litespeed RX|Nick Purcell|Steve Blenkinsop|Trent Brown|William "Billo" Olive

William Olive <<William.Olive>> sends:

http://www.williamolive.com/dalby/comp results.html

The Dalby Big Air 2013

Results

(Dalby Airport, Queensland, Australia)

William "Billo" Olive

William Olive <<William.Olive>> writes:

The Dalby Big Air 2013 starts this Sunday the 14^th. I will be scoring the comp using FS and I'll upload the results onto a page on my website.

Cloud Soaring Record on an XT582

Turning off the power

(Burketown, Australia)

record|William "Billo" Olive

http://www.airborne.com.au/airnews/?p=2049

William Olive known to his mates and others as Billo has been a consistent visitor to the Gulf of Carpentaria. The attraction to this remote area at the top end of Australia has mainly been the incredible wave cloud phenomena named the “Morning Glory”. The series of roll clouds form when moisture from onshore sea breezes is evident. The rolling wave can be up to 1000 kms(620mi) long. The wave continues it’s journey inland producing lift in front of the cloud. This lift allows pilot’s of all sorts of aircraft the opportunity to “surf” the cloud for miles inland until it finally dissipates. The cloud base is usually only 100 – 200 metres (330-660 ft) high and moves at speeds up to 60 kms (37mi) per hour.

Billo with his crew Brett Paull XT 582 and Cruze wing was able to climb up to the cloud and switch off the engine and soar to the world record now at 48.4 Km

Billo's report

(Gulgong, NSW, Australia)

Adam Parer|Attila Bertok|Jamie Shelden|John Smith|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Konrad Heilmann|Lisa Bradley|Moyes Litespeed RX|Trent Brown|William "Billo" Olive|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C

Airborne Gulgong Classic 2012

http://www.gulgongclassic.com/

William Olive «William Olive» writes:

The scores on the web site are the final scores: Junior first, Atilla second and Trent Brown third (they were the task committee… hmmmm). Rory Duncan was first in sport class with a very good performance overall.

For the last day the task committee called an approximately 190km task to Jerrys Plains via Cassilis, almost the same task that was cancelled the day before due to a restricted military airspace being activated. The surface winds were 15 knts gusting and it was over 38C on the strip when towing commenced, and it was obvious the winds aloft were even stronger.

We were using an ordered launch, so as to ensure that pilots didn't have to wait on the field fully kitted up in the heat, and we had only launched about nine of the alternates before the safety committee suggested that it may be prudent to call a halt.

Most of the pilots made it back to the strip for interesting landings, Attila was the last back. Lisa Bradley and Mark Russell landed in paddocks down wind of the strip. We had a moment on concern for Mark, but he was found OK.

In the wash up, we flew on every one of the eight days (including the practice day). Two days were not taskable and one task was cancelled due to the wind. We got four valid comp rounds with some very challenging tasks and one spot landing comp on a non taskable day (won by James McKirdy). The tugs burnt more fuel on that day than any other.

We had hundreds of tows in, at times, very challenging conditions with no incidents. The standard of towing was pleasingly high. It was great to see all the international pilots show up for the event, in particularly the Kiwis who support all our comps (and also make a great effort for the presentation too, Jamie Shelden should have some good pics on her blog I think).

http://naughtylawyertravels.blogspot.com.au/

Final Results:

Partials Results from the first day

(Gulgong, NSW, Australia)

Adam Parer|Attila Bertok|Gulgong Classic 2012|John Smith|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Konrad Heilmann|Nick Purcell|William "Billo" Olive

Airborne Gulgong Classic 2012

http://www.gulgongclassic.com/

Results here.

William Olive «William Olive» writes:

FS is great, until things go wrong. The manual scoring options are fairly limited. The first day is up. These results are wrong, as Jason Kth, Jonas Lobitz and Peter Ebeling all made goal. I am still working to correct this.

The Economist on hang gliding

Hang-gliding is quite the purest form of flying.

(Wills Wing Factory, California, USA)

Francis Rogallo|sailplane|William "Billo" Olive|Wills Wing

Francis Rogallo|sailplane|William "Billo" Olive|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C

Francis Rogallo|sailplane|William "Billo" Olive|Wills Wing|Wills Wing T2C

http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2012/11/hang-gliding

Hang-gliding is quite the purest form of flying. Sailplanes insulate the pilot too much from the passage of air. Motorised aircraft dull the senses with noise and vibration, and isolate the pilot still further from his surroundings. Helicopters move with all the grace of a washing machine. Hot-air balloons and para-gliders are exemplary. But to lie prone in a hang-glider harness, exposed to the elements and using only body motions to control the lift and direction of flight, is at once to fulfill man’s oldest of dreams and to experience the nearest thing to bird flight.

In a sense, wing-warping is what got modern hang-gliders back into the skies in the 1960s. All credit goes to John Dickenson, an Australian who was trying to develop a more controllable kite for hoisting water-skiers into the air from behind a motor boat. By good fortune, he came across a delta-shaped flexible wing invented in America by Francis Rogallo, and tested by NASA as a means for recovering Gemini space capsules.

Mr Dickenson’s great achievement was to marry a billowing Rogallo wing to a harness and control bar that supported the pilot while allowing him to shift his weight fore and aft to affect the glider’s pitch, and from side to side to affect its roll and yaw.

When this arrangement was scaled up, so that it could be launched by running with it down a slope into a slight uphill breeze instead of being towed by a motor boat, hang-gliding took off around the world. By 1974, a standard Rogallo hang-glider could be had for as little as $400 ($2,000 in today’s money). By then there were some 40 manufacturers of hang-gliders in the United States alone.

With few safety aids, little experience and such a low entry-price, the inevitable fatalities gave hang-gliding a bad name. Today, as the sport has matured and become carefully regulated and more professional, there are essentially only two manufacturers left in America, plus a handful elsewhere. The biggest by far is Wills Wing of Orange, California. The company produces around 650 gliders a year at prices ranging from $3,800 for an entry-level Falcon 4 to over $8,500 for a competition-class T2C.

Wills Wing will celebrate its 40^th anniversary next year. Having been a leading light in the business since the beginning, the company has pushed the technology further than most. Early Rogallo gliders, with their billowing sails, had a lift/drag (L/D) ratio of around four-to-one, depending on the speed. Today, even a trainer such as the Falcon 4 can have an L/D of ten-to-one, while a hang-glider designed for cross-country competitions, like the Wills Wing T2C, will have an L/D of over 15-to-one. That is less than a condor’s, but much the same as a red-tailed hawk’s.

Such improvements have come mainly from taking the billow out of the Rogallo wing, reducing its sweep, increasing its aspect ratio (span divided by width)—and, above all, learning how to control the twist in the wing. A Rogallo wing’s billowing fabric imparted too much twist—with the outer sections of the wing attacking the air at a much lower angle than the inner sections. Most wings, whether on gliders or airliners, have a little downward twist (or “washout”) built into them deliberately, so that their inner sections stall before their tips do. That helps the pilot maintain control in a stall, especially when executing a roll.

But too much twist also hobbles performance. In contrast to the loose sails of early hang-gliders, today’s craft rely on high-tech Mylar fabrics stretched over thin aluminum tubing along the leading edges and shaped aluminum ribs that give the wing its camber. The art has been in finding the right amount of twist to stop the wing tips stalling, but not enough to stunt the glider’s ability to soar and stay aloft.

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Morning Glory in Gulf of Carpentaria

Billo is there

(Burketown, Australia)

PG|weather|William "Billo" Olive

Billo sends these:

http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2012/09/26/438692_tweed-byron-news.html

PARAGLIDER Andrew Polidano leaves on Saturday to take on a mysterious weather phenomenon that until recently was considered too dangerous for people in his sport.

Mr Polidano, 40, a paraglider for 17 years, will head to the Gulf of Carpentaria to hunt the "morning glory" cloud formation -- a rolling cloud that moves at speeds of up to 60km/h and is found hardly anywhere else in the world.

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Dalby pilots and their FAI Sporting Licenses

Get yours

(Dalby Airport, Queensland, Australia)

Brian Harris|CIVL|William "Billo" Olive

William Olive <<William.Olive>> writes:

If your name is marked with an asterisk on the following list then Brian does not have your sporting licence number. If this matters to you, then contact either Brian or me.

http://civlrankings.fai.org/FL.aspx?a=334&l=0&competition_id=2443

Any pilots marked as not having one can contact Billo or Brian Harris at Civl_Comps <<civl_comps>> and Brian will correct it as long as they do it within the next two months

Dalby Competition

The podium

(Dalby Airport, Queensland, Australia)

Cameron Tunbridge|David Seib|Rob Hibberd|Rohan Holtkamp|Rohan Taylor|Scott Barrett|William "Billo" Olive

Billo sends:

Scott Barrett, Conrad Lotten, and Adam Stevens, in that order. .

Everyone who picked up a trophy at Dalby; from left to right, Shelley Heinrich, Gavin Myers, Adam, Scott, Conrad and Kathryn. Kathyn is holding the "David Seib memorial trophy", a new perpetual trophy from the Dalby club.

Rob Hibberd <<RobH>> sends:

Scott Barrett flying brilliantly won the comp with a good margin on his Airborne Rev 13.5. He was 299 points in front of 2^nd place getter Conrad Lotan on a Moyes Litespeed. Adam Stevens was once again showing good form and came 3^rd overall on a Rev 13.5. Rohan Holtkamp climbed back up to 4^th place after narrowly missing goal on a crucial day. Cameron Tunbridge made it to 13^th place on the 14.5 Rev and Phil Schroeder was 19^th place.

Paul Barry wrote: Great effort from the Airborne pilots. A combination of great pilots and excellent gliders. Only 7 Revs in the comp and they took out 3 of the top 4 spots with the rest doing pretty well too.

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FS scoring

(Dalby Airport, Queensland, Australia)

competition|Curt Warren|Dalby Big Air 2012|Dave May|FS|Kathryn O'Riordan|scoring|William "Billo" Olive

http://www.warrenwindsports.com.au/blog/dave-may

http://www.warrenwindsports.com.au/blog/curt-warren

http://www.kathrynoriordan.com/2012/04/16/dalby-day-2-what-went-right/

http://www.williamolive.com/dalby/comp results.html

Day two results here.

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New South Wales State Titles

Two cancelled days

(Mt Borah, Manilla, Australia)

New South Wales State Titles 2012|weather|William "Billo" Olive

As predicted from the weather forecasts, and the fact of continued La Nina conditions in Australia, the second and third day of the competition have been cancelled. Too much rain on the night of day two made the road up to the top too wet.

Billo is scoring the competition using my OzGAP 2005 scoring program that works inside SeeYou. It is often used in Australian competitions. Great to see it.

http://www.warrenwindsports.com.au/blog/competitions/manilla-day23

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At Pine Mountain

Thermal Wave Glory

A.I.R. ATOS VR|Gary Osoba|Patrick Kruse|PG|record|sailplane|William "Billo" Olive

(300+Northeast+Franklin+Avenue,+Bend,+OR+97701)

charles baughman <<big-bird>> writes:

The view was breathtaking. I was high, way above the clouds in very smooth, serene air and all alone. I was really glad I had a camera and hoped the shots were good. I saw Patrick climbing up to 8700' and I radioed to him, "Get your butt up here, this is incredible air." He responded, "I'm trying, I'm trying!” During the flight I had radioed to my flying friends several times how wonderful the conditions were and apparently sounded like an exuberant little kid at Christmas. The return reply could have easily been, “Shut up, I am busy.”

The forecast on Saturday, Oct 22, for Pine Mt. Oregon was for lift to 8000' and a 10 to 15 mph west wind which is straight in at launch. Pine Mt. is over forty miles east of the Cascade Range and the westerly winds put it in a lee side condition, which is very dry with very few trees. This is Central Oregon, categorized as a high desert area. These conditions make for good flying and cross country potential. There are many days of thermal flying in the summer with cloud base ranging from 10000‘ to 14000‘ and occasionally higher. Landing areas are plentiful at about 4300’ where the terrain is mostly flat and treeless but usually has sagebrush ranging from two to five feet tall. Pine Mt. is a big rocky volcanic mountain with several long ridges. There are four main upper launches of which the west launch, at 6100’, is the favorite launch for hang gliding. The paragliders use the four upper launches and very often use the convenient lower launches on the northwest facing ridge which are very close to a parking area.

I launched at 2:00 PM and found conditions to be good, especially for this late in the year. Five hang gliders and seven paragliders launched that day. Paragliders Steve Roti and Scott Maclowry said they got up to 7700’, where they found the wind to be at their maximum, so they flew out and down. I got high in good lift with light turbulence. The cumulus were dry and wispy at 10000'. I worked the lift back to the Antelope Launch area. I would have continued east but I saw no appetizing cumulus and decided to head back upwind to the ridge. I was able to make it back to the top of the ridge because of the superior performance of the Atos type glider.

My glider is an Atos VR11. It is classified as a rigid wing hang glider and has a very wide span, flaps, spoilerons, winglets, and a horizontal stabilizer. The flaps and stabilizer are coupled together and the setting can be changed in the air with a pull cord. Pitch and roll are controlled by weight shift movement. It has an excellent glide ratio, and that allows me to--- go places.

After I flew back to the launch area, I scratched for lift with Scott Michalek and Tim Reynolds and later circled up to Patrick Kruse. After some searching, I entered a strong smooth thermal with my climb averaging 700 fpm. I love fast climbs, especially when they are smooth. As I climbed higher and higher, I looked up for a cloud, which I could not find, and I topped out at 12100' and 2000' above the clouds. The entire climb was cloudless. As I was cruising around in the smooth upper layer, I noticed a glory on a cloud. The glory is an optical phenomena that falls into the "Water Droplet Arc" category similar to rainstorm rainbows. The physics of the glory are not fully understood but a basic explanation is that glories are rainbow-colored rings produced by backscattering, surface wave effects, and diffraction from small, uniformly sized water droplets such as those in clouds and fog. The colored rings are seen around the “anti solar” point, directly opposite the sun along a line running through the observer’s location. Droplet characteristics are important in the type of glory formation. Smaller droplets produce larger glories. Uniform droplets have more rings, and they are more distinct as well. The glory’s angular size depends only on the diameters of the cloud droplets. The distance from the cloud has no effect on how large it looks. All of the glories in my pictures look to be the same angular size even though I was at different distances from the clouds. The shadow itself can change size depending on the distance from the cloud. The glider shadow in my pictures is small and off center in the glory. The camera is not centered on the glider. it is on the left wingtip aimed to the right and forward and it “sees” its part of the shadow in the center of the glory.

The glory sighting was mesmerizing. I had seen these before, but this time I was able to stay up at cloud height for an extended period of time while taking pictures. Most of the clouds I used to make the glory shots were elongated and wedge shaped from west to east and the cloud top billows appeared to be rising and showing a wind increase. I flew along the sunny south side of the cloud to get multiple shots. There was continuous 300 to 500 fpm lift near the cloud in clear air. I had to dive to stay low enough to get the glory shots. It was as if I was making speedy ridge runs, except I was flying upwind taking shots, and downwind to line up for another shooting run. After I made multiple cloud passes, the conditions started to deteriorate as the clouds were dissipating. The magical air had lasted about 45 minutes. I flew back to the ridge and as I watched my altimeter unwind my thoughts turned to the camera. I really wanted the shots to be there when I uploaded, because no one would believe or could imagine and enjoy this story without pictures.

I have had discussions about this soaring condition with Gary Osoba, a hang glider designer back in the 70‘s when new designs were coming out monthly. Gary also had some very innovative designs and currently holds many sailplane records and makes attempts to break soaring records every year. Gary had an explanation for my soaring condition: “The condition that allowed you to climb to altitudes above the clouds and then fly along in front of them, as you might do in ridge lift, are rather uncommon. First, there appeared to be a convergence of two air masses with markedly differing moisture levels. Secondly, the winds aloft were such that once you climbed to a position in front of existing clouds, you could “surf” them in a thermal induced wave. As such, the clouds line up in a manner that results in the upper winds to flow over them, creating mild wave lift and sink in a pattern.” I would like to add to this that the elongated wedge shape of the clouds was very interesting, possibly indicating that a drier, colder, faster moving air mass was converging, and riding up the cloud top, which increased the instability and helped to form and pull the cloud into a wedge shape.

After many years of flying, this flight is a strong reminder that the potential for new experience and discovery is always there, just waiting to be realized. In my early days of flying I discovered, for myself, that even a primitive standard hang glider could go up in a thermal using the circling method. We have come a long way since then. Through the years advancements in equipment, improvements in technique, and overall knowledge have enhanced our enjoyment in all aspects of flying. This flight had some phenomenal firsts for me: I have never gained anywhere near 2000' above the lower thermal formed clouds. I have never flown next to a small cloud in clear air and consistently gained 500 fpm. I have never had such a euphoric glory experience. The pleasure of this adventure was magnified by the unbelievable smoothness and buoyancy of the upper layer.

Later that night, I expressed to my flying buddies, “I feel like a 1000 watts. You could plug a toaster into me.”

NSW State Titles 2012

New web site

(Mt Borah, Manilla, Australia)

Dawson Brown|William "Billo" Olive

William Olive <<William.Olive>> writes:

The new comp website for the 2012 NSW State Titles is up, thanks to Dawson Brown. Pilots can register to join the comp, and pay, at http://nswst.williamolive.com/home.

Drought continues in Texas

Hope someone is there when we go there in July

(Carter Memorial Airfield, Luling,+Texas)

William "Billo" Olive

http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/10/17/341585/texas-drought-multi-year-dust-bowl/

I reported several weeks ago that state climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon had predicted: “I’ve started telling anyone who’s interested that it’s likely that much of Texas will still be in severe drought this time next summer, with water supply implications even worse than those we are now experiencing.”

http://blog.chron.com/climateabyss/2011/10/2020/

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=141617522

The towering wall of billowing red dust roaring across the blue West Texas sky took Monroe Debusk back more than eight decades to the Dust Bowl years when he was growing up on his family's cotton farm.

The 90-year-old farmer looked out his window Monday and saw the sky darken as a rare 1.5-mile-tall, 250-mile-long dust cloud stretched across the rain-starved land and blotted out the sun.

"I didn't do anything — just thought back to the way it used to be," Debusk said, recalling the massive dust storms that overwhelmed the region in the 1930s. "That's the way they were."

http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/DM_state.htm?TX,S

No hay:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/01/us/hay-shortage-compounds-woe-in-drought-stricken-texas.html

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2011 Airborne Gulgong Classic

Revamped web site

(Gulgong, NSW, Australia)

Airborne Gulgong Classic 2011|Dawson Brown|William "Billo" Olive

William Olive <<William.Olive>> writes:

The Gulgong Classic web site has been revamped, thanks to the mighty volunteer efforts of Dawson Brown, and is now available to take registrations for entry for 2011.

The comp dates for this year are 20^th to 26^th of November 2011. On line entry and payment options are available on the new web site at http://gulgong.williamolive.com/home

As soon as I can edit my DNS servers the new web site will be available at the old web address, which should be in the next day or so.

Dalby - The Durands win the Dalby meet

No flying on the last day

(Dalby Airport, Queensland, Australia)

Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|William "Billo" Olive

Fifth task: http://www.soaringspot.com/dalby2011/results/flex/daily/day5.html

Totals: http://soaringspot.com/dalby2011/results/flex/total/day5.html

http://soaringspot.com/dalby2011/results/flex/day-by-day.html

Billo writes that every day was a triangle task, perhaps a first in Australian competition history. Jonas Lobitz was third.

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A Merry Christmas from the Morning Glory

Billo pulling Santa's sleigh

(Burketown, Australia)

William "Billo" Olive

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Never got a NOTAM for the Airborne Gulgong Meet

(Gulgong, NSW, Australia)

HGFA|William "Billo" Olive

A pilot writes:

Hang Gliding Federation of Australia is in shambles. There was no NOAM despite Billo trying for sixty days prior. CASA want all correspondence on these matters to go through HGFA. HGFA are having trouble coping with the work that needs to be done.

Discuss "HGFA⁣ in shambles?" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

2010 Gulgong Classic Day Two

Another big day

(Gulgong, NSW, Australia)

Gulgong Classic 2010|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|William "Billo" Olive

http://kathryn.typepad.com/kalog/

http://kathryn.typepad.com/kalog/2010/11/gulgong-practice-day.html

http://kathryn.typepad.com/kalog/2010/11/gulgong-day-1-100-kms-to-yeovil.html

http://kathryn.typepad.com/kalog/2010/11/167-to-alectown.html

http://kathryn.typepad.com/kalog/2010/11/gulgong-day-2.html

10 or 11 in goal. Jonny won the day I think. Still no scores up, but Billo is doing his best to get it up and running soon.

Overall I am happy. Billo reminded me just there that last year 30kms was my best flight in the comp, so I ain't doing too badly.

Day One Results.

Day Two Results.

Total.

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A big day

(Gulgong, NSW, Australia)

Curt Warren|Facebook|Grant Heaney|Gulgong Classic 2010|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|William "Billo" Olive

Jonny writes on Facebook:

Good day today a 101km task climbs up to 8,000 ft later on and more than half the field in goal. I think Curt Warren won the day just in front of Grant Heaney.

No scores yet. Billo is having problems with scoring and probably hasn't set up the Soaring Spot. Don't know what internet access is like there these days.

Discuss "2010 Gulgong Classic, Day One" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Ready to go.

(Gulgong, NSW, Australia)

Gulgong Classic 2010|William "Billo" Olive

2010 Gulgong Classic

William Olive «William Olive» writes:

The Airborne Gulgong Classic will be a FAI Cat 2 and Oz AA comp again this year. Comp dates are 21^st to 27^th of November, with practice day on the 20^th.

I have updated the web site at http://www.gulgongclassic.com including on line registration and payment page.

Ian Harris is the person to see regarding camping on the airfield, and in the past he charged $10 a night for camping fees. However, for this year we are offering free camping and use of the field facilities included in your comp entry fee.

Opening up the Great Plains

It's flat out there

(Fargo, ND)

William "Billo" Olive

http://www.onpointradio.org/2010/07/the-great-plains-boom

It seems like only yesterday that the Great Plains, the magnificent center of the country, was being written off as an economic basket case. Towns boarding up. People leaving.

The case was made to give the region back to Mother Nature. To make it a “buffalo commons” again.

Oh, how things change. Today, while so much of the country is struggling economically, the cities of the Great Plains are booming. Don’t laugh at Fargo. It’s got jobs. Agriculture and the energy biz, low costs – and low wages.

Buffalo Commons

At the center of the United States, between the Rockies and the tallgrass prairies of the Midwest and South, lies the shortgrass expanse of the Great Plains. The region extends over large parts of 10 states and produces cattle, corn, wheat, sheep, cotton, coal, oil, natural gas, and metals. The Plains are endlessly windswept and nearly treeless; the climate is semiarid, with typically less than 20 inches of rain a year.

The country is rolling in parts in the north, dead flat in the south. It is lightly populated. A dusty town with a single gas station, store, and house is sometimes 50 unpaved miles from its nearest neighbor, another three-building settlement amid the sagebrush. As we define the region, its eastern border is the 98^th meridian. San Antonio and Denver are on the Plains' east and west edges, respectively, but the largest city actually located in the Plains is Lubbock, Texas, population 179,000. Although the Plains occupy one-fifth of the nation's land area, the region's overall population, approximately 5.5 million, is less than that of Georgia or Indiana.

The Great Plains are America's steppes. They have the nation's hottest summers and coldest winters, greatest temperature swings, worst hail and locusts and range fires, fiercest droughts and blizzards, and therefore its shortest growing season. The Plains are the land of the Big Sky and the Dust Bowl, one-room schoolhouses and settler homesteads, straight-line interstates and custom combines, prairie dogs and antelope and buffalo. The oceans-of-grass vistas of the Plains offer enormous horizons, billowy clouds, and somber-serene beauty.

During America's pioneer days and then again during the Great Depression, the Plains were a prominent national concern. But by 1952, in his book The Great Frontier, the Plains' finest historian, the late Walter Prescott Webb of the University of Texas, could accurately describe them as the least-known, most fateful part of the United States. We believe that over the next generation the Plains will, as a result of the largest, longest-running agricultural and environmental miscalculation in American history, become almost totally depopulated. At that point, a new use for the region will emerge, one that is in fact so old that it predates the American presence. We are suggesting that the region be returned to its original pre-white state, that it be, in effect, deprivatized.

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NSW State Titles

A very close finish

Øyvind Ellefsen|Conrad Loten|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|New South Wales State Titles 2010|Scott Barrett|William "Billo" Olive

http://www.ellefsen.net/

http://www.jonnydurand.blogspot.com/

Results after five days of flying. Billo writes:

I decided not to fly on the last day so as to be able to get the scoring done early, but when I got down from the hill into the comp HQ there was no power. A total blackout in Manilla, then the mobile phone system went down too, so no internet either.

I completed the scoring to the dulcet tones of a trio of large generator sets, but I couldn't upload the results until this morning. They are on the web now.

I forgot to give a special mention to the Kiwi contingent. A large number came over for a trans Tasman challenge. This is great to see, and I'd like to thank them all for showing up.

The challenge was won by the Aussies, I don't have the scores to hand as I calculated them on the back of a beer coaster, but if anybody wants to work it out for themselves, add the scores of the top 4 pilots from each country on each day.

It was something like 17,000 to 14,000.

1. Jon Jnr Durand, Australia, 4037

2. Conrad Loten, NZ, 3974

3. Scott Barrett, Australia, 3763

Tim Ettridge writes:

Jonny Durand, to no one's surprise, wins the NSW Titles comp again…for the tenth time in a row. This, despite bombing out at a mere 30K on the third of five tasks flown and scoring only 300 points.

New Zealand's Conrad Loten came in second, after landing in the east bombout field on the last day and, with the aid of his crew, getting back up in time to relaunch.

Scott Barrett came in third and, being the highest placing NSW resident, becomes the New South Wales Champion.

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NSW State Titles

On-line registration up

(Mt Borah, Manilla, Australia)

William "Billo" Olive

Billo <William.Olive> wries:

I have the pilot registration and credit card payment page up for the NSW Hang Gliding state comp. The web page is at http://www.nswstatetitles.com.

Discuss "NSW State Titles" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Scoring Program Updated

Many ways to score.

(Beechmont, QLD, Australia)

CIVL|PG|William "Billo" Olive

The scoring program used to score the Airborne Gulgong Classic for the last three years, the Corryong Cup, The NSW State Titles and the Dalby Big Air has been updated. In addition to providing OzGAP 2005 and GAP 2000 scoring formulas, it now also handles open distance and open distance along a defined course competitions.

It works with SeeYou. You'll find the manual and the free program on-line here. One button publishing the results to the web.

Billo, who scored the 2009 Gulgong Open, will be using it to score the 2010 Manilla meet and the 2010 Dalby competition.

There is an on-line paraglider meet scoring system up and running in Australia. You can check it out here, here, here and here. Just upload the track logs to the server.

Of course, there is the FAI/CIVL backed FS scoring program, which is so flexible in scoring that it can easily get you into trouble if you are not careful. You'll find it here.

Discuss "Scoring Program Updated" at the Oz Report forum   link»

NSW State Titles

Update

(Mt Borah, Manilla, Australia)

William "Billo" Olive

Billo <William.Olive> wries:

I have registered a new domain for the comp; http://www.nswstatetitles.com. I will update the web page shortly, adding a new registration and payment details link page. This year's State titles' scores will be available on the Soaringspot webpage.

Discuss "NSW State Titles" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Oversubscribed

(Mt Eliot, Towong, VIC, Australia)

Cameron Tunbridge|Corryong Cup 2010|Mart Bosman|sailplane|William "Billo" Olive

Wendi Herman «Wendi Herman», the meet organizer, has apparently been very successful when it comes to organizing a competition that lots of pilots want to attend. This year it seems like there is enough demand that she could have organized two Corryong Cups and filled them both up. Cameron Tunbridge tells me that she is a very focused and driven meet organizer and knows how to get the job done. (I'm happy to provide the scoring program and act as a consultant to the score keeper.)

The Corryong Cup is like the Team Challenge, a competition put on with the express intention of bringing new pilots into the competition community. More experienced pilots attend it with the intent of teaching the new pilots the skills that they need to be safe and compete in the "higher grade" competitions.

The meet has been so successful that the South Australia hang gliding club is now considering running a second version at the same location (Corryong) and starting it the week before the regular Corryong Cup. That way there will in essence be two Corryong Cups to try to meet the demand for more of these types of competitions.

I was discussing "Sport Class" with Billo over dinner a few nights back. He referred to it as "The Future of the Sport" Class.

Cameron, Blinky, and Hadewych were down at Corryong a couple of days ago, and reported great flying conditions. Steve (Blinky) was apparently able to fly over Mt Kosciuszko (actually within two kilometers) with Mart Bosman, taking off from Bright, in a sailplane below him.

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More luck from Adam Parer

Lucky to survive his wounds

(Gulgong, NSW, Australia)

Adam Parer|Conrad Loten|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Monica Barrett|William "Billo" Olive

We stayed at Scott and Monica Barrett's in North Belmont (near Newcastle) for three days after Christmas while they were visiting family in Victoria. We had the opportunity to have dinners with Conrad Loten (and Annucia and Myra), Billo (and Julia) and Adam Parer (who is now living at his mother's house in Newcastle). I took the opportunity to teach Billo additional aspects of the Davis' Scoring Program which he will use to also score the NSW State Titles (Jonny's favorite competition) and the Dalby Big Air. A little time with the program's author always helps. He also got an updated version.

Discussions with Conrad and Adam, who, by the way, is doing very well, revealed the extent of Adam's peril from his injuries in the few hours after he sustained them. Adam has already detailed how fortunate he was to survive his tuck, tumble and subsequent high speed spin in articles here in the Oz Report and on his blog. What was not quite so clear was how lucky he was to survive the wounds sustained from his deployment in free fall.

Adam had massive injuries to his chest, six broken ribs on the right side (Conrad described this side as flailed), two (not found at first) on the left. A collapsed lung and cracked sternum.  Because of the collapsed lung and internal bleeding there he had trouble breathing. But he could have easily had two collapsed lungs which would have suffocated him.

Because Adam is healthy and fit (and still is) he was able to able to reinflate the right lung within twenty four hours when it is usual to have to do much more invasive measures to deal with the damage. The fact that he was helicoptered out of the field to the John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle brought its own peril as reduced pressure on the lungs could have caused further damage. The pilot flew 200' off the trees and skimmed over the Great Dividing Range into the Hunter valley.

Adam is well on his road to a much greater recovery than was expected. Conrad was initially skeptical that the upper right ribs would ever go back into place but now it looks like that is already a possibility. Adam is swimming a kilometer every day, running hard and feels that his lung capacity (six weeks after the accident) is back to normal or close to it. His lung capacity will be tested soon.

He is being careful. Not flying and not riding a bike. He doesn't want to endanger his recovery progress. He will return to work at the fire department next Monday, but at a desk job for now. He has six months of accrued sick leave, but doesn't want to use it up.

He looks thin (he lost a lot of weight after his wife died) but healthy. His eyes (you may have seen the pictures) have whites instead of reds. I could see him favoring his right side, but not extensively.

We were very happy to visit with Adam and see that he is doing so well. He is enjoying staying with his mother and she is happy to have him there. Adam is particularly happy to see the huge interest in High Energy parachutes which can sustain freefall. Many pilots are ordering them to replace their existing chutes.

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Tim Ettridge becalmed at Gulgong

I thought that there was too much wind on some days

(Gulgong, NSW, Australia)

William "Billo" Olive

Billo <William.Olive> writes:

Discuss "Tim Ettridge becalmed at Gulgong" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Using my scoring program in Australia and the US

My SeeYou program and FS are the two programs used for scoring

(Gulgong, NSW, Australia)

CIVL|PG|William "Billo" Olive

Bill is using my scoring program (I wish I had a name for it) that works inside of SeeYou, to score the 2009 Gulgong Classic. It will be used in January for the Corryong Cup, also in Australia. I use the program to score the hang gliding competitions in the US. One thing I like about it is that it is easy to use, if you know how to use SeeYou.

The other cool scoring program is FS, which I have also used extensively. It has a lot of flexibility (which has got some who've gone overboard into trouble) and is an excellent program. It has the backing of CIVL, but you can use my program to send your results to CIVL also. It is self contained (although uses GPSDump to download GPSes), so it doesn't require a graphics program like SeeYou (but it isn't as graphical).

I use SeeYou to create tasks for competitions, and to view flights as do many other hang glider and paraglider pilots, so many of us are familiar with the program.

I am providing technical support to Billo, who only acts as a scorekeeper once a year and will be helping the scorekeeper at the Corryong Cup also. FS tends to be used by scorekeepers who study the program and are familiar with it, and use it multiple times. I'm more than happy to help out anyone who wants to use this program. It is free to anyone.

It's available on the Oz Report forum and the Naviter forum.

Discuss "Using my scoring program in Australia and the US" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Attila in the lead

(Gulgong, NSW, Australia)

Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|William "Billo" Olive

http://jonnydurand.blogspot.com/

http://williamolive.com/fly/node/610

You can find the Soaring Spot Results here:  http://www.gulgongclassic.com/

Billo «Billo» writes:

We've flown three days out of four so far. The first two days were temps in the 40s and day three had high temps and strong winds. Today was a little cooler and light and variable, the task committee called a 130km triangle.

Comp results are available from the link on the comp website at http://www.gulgongclassic.com to the soaring spot.

But the really great news is that Adam is doing well and is in good spirits.

Discuss "Airborne Gulgong Classic 2009" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Airborne Gulgong Classic

Accommodations

(Gulgong, NSW, Australia)

Airborne Gulgong Classic 2009|photo|William "Billo" Olive

http://www.gulgongclassic.com/

william olive <<william.olive>> writes:

The Airborne Guglong Classic comp dates are drawing nearer. The comp website is open for registration and on-line payments at http://guglongclassic.com

The Prince of Wales hotel/pub has informed me that they have a house available to rent. Some photos and a link are now on the comp's accommodation page the accommodation page is at http://www.williamolive.com/gulgong classic/accommodation.html.

Buckingham Place has a weekly price (7 days) $850 and 5 days (Mon- Fri) $750. The house is serviced once and does not include breaky on the weekly rate. There is also a 4^th room with a queen sofa lounge at the house.

This could be a good deal for a group of pilots. However, contact the pub, not me. Of course, as usual, camping accommodation and meals will be available on the airstrip.

Gulgong Dates

HGFA site down.

(Cudgegong Soarers airstrip, Gulgong, NSW, Australia)

Airborne Gulgong Classic 2009|Curt Warren|Tim Cummings|William "Billo" Olive

Airborne Gulgong Classic 2009 Dates

http://www.gulgongclassic.com/

15^th to 21^st of November 2009

William Olive «william.olive» writes:

I have been holding off advertising the 2009 Airborne Gulgong classic, while I am waiting for Tim Cummings to get the on-line registration system working. However, Tim has had some issues with the HGFA web site which is holding up progress more than somewhat, so:

The 2009 Airborne Gulgong classic will be held on the Cudgegong Soarers' airstrip, commencing on Sunday the 15^th to Saturday the 21^st of November 2009.

The website is at http://www.gulgongclassic.com/ and the on-line payment is working. Hopefully on line registration will be available soon.

Curt Warren should have some more news on this comp shortly.

Tickling the Dragon

Playing with the really big cu-nimbs

(Big Southern Butte, Idaho, USA)

Blue Sky|dust devil|Paul Allen|weather|William "Billo" Olive

Paul Allen <<pallen>> writes:

Blacker still against a black sky, the dead volcanoes marched in the night.

It was the summer of 1971 and I was seeing the buttes of Idaho’s Snake River Plain for the first time. The day had been hot, and so I had siesta’d in the scant shade of Arco’s town park. “First nuclear powered city in the world” a sign read. Looked like a cow town to me. I scanned the map. There was no oasis for the next 70 miles. Like many others of that time, I had ‘gone to look for America’, hoping to find myself. I searched perched atop a bicycle in a time before toe-clips and light weight alloys. I was tired and heat rippled the air.

I struck out at sunset with an extra gallon of water strapped to the handlebars. I remember the eerie sounds of the night; the bumps on the road I thought must be snakes,  and I remember the haunting silhouettes of dead volcanoes.

Many years later I returned to this area and made it my home. This is a story that began on a dead volcano.

Ken’s overburdened Suburban sped across the desert track, a contrail of billowing dust in its wake. Antelope scattered, their pastoral morning shattered. 15 foot long bags of fabric were cinched to a steel roof rack, suggesting to some that we were carpet layers hell bent to a carpet layers convention. Packed inside the rig, Eiji elbowed me in his effort to tune in the latest report on the weather cube.

“light and variable winds this morning, becoming southwest at ten to fifteen by afternoon, a slight chance of thunderstorms by evening”. The words hissed through the static.

Eiji yawned. It had been a late night. “Not much push today.

We can forget about a hundred miler”

Frank joined in. “You kiddin’? It’ll be great. We’ll all go big”

“Not a chance” whined Ken. “We’re all screwed. You know The Butte; it’ll be blown out by the time we’re set up. Punch it Tony. It’s our only chance.”

Since Tony was driving, and was espoused to Ken, and it was his rig, she hit the gas and we careened down the rutted road. It was 1986. We were the core of SE Idaho’s hang gliding community. With few other pilots around to prove otherwise, we fancied ourselves the best pilots on the planet. Who else flew off 7,500 ft volcanoes into 100 mile cloud streets? No one we knew. Heck, we were probably the gnarliest rag wingers in the world!

Ken was our leader. He’d been flying The Big Southern Butte as long as anyone. He had a name for every pissbump in the desert and a story to go with it. Each began with something akin to “No Shit! There I was, thought I was gonna die” and ended with his survival through some combined miracle of prodigious skill, luck, or Devine intervention. His pessimism knew no bounds (which always allowed him to exceed his expectations).

“Yup, looks like we’re screwed alright” he scowled again.

Eiji would laugh when he heard Ken complain. The youngster of our group, he was as enthused and competitive as any of us but didn’t much fret the conditions - just so he got to fly. Short, mustached, half Japanese and full of fun, he was everyone’s best bud. When he laughed, I laughed too, and that was often.

“It’ll be great, perfect, just look at that sky” came Frank’s emphatic assessment. “You get us there, Tony, and I’ll be ready to punch off when the first cume (cumulous cloud) pops.”

Frank was the veteran. He’s mid seventies by now and has been flying hang gliders since the beginning. He may have invented the sport for all I know. His knowledge was credible. His tales incredible; some mix of historical obscurity and suspect plausibility. “Yes sir, there I was forced down with a shredded sail by an irate eagle. An old injun horse packed me out 8 miles just for a turn on my parachute”

“It’s going to be great, just perfect” His wrinkled eyes sparkled at the sky. Frank was the eternal optimist.

Tony puts up with a lot. Thousands of miles of scorching sun and dry grit have done little to harden her features. Fifteen years of early mornings and late nights; fifteen years of deciphering hypoxic mumblings over the CB; and twenty-five years of CRAP from deranged and demanding pilots has done little to harden her demeanor. A good driver for cross county hang gliding epics is a rare and treasured thing. One with a sexy voice that can locate a downed pilot whose last transmission reads like this: “Ahh… I think I’m still in Idaho… there’s some sage brush… and a cow… oh! …and a patch of dirt that looks like Bullwinkle!… over” has worth beyond measure.

Jostled atop the rig, bright wings struggle folded in their skins. Soon, like a chrysalis in the warming sun, they will unfurl and find their destiny in the air.

Big Southern Butte now looms before us, a reddish rhyolite monolith thrust up through a sea of black basalt. Thousands of years ago the Yellowstone “Hot Spot” lingered here, spewing forth great outpourings of lava that ultimately filled a basin that now stretches hundreds of miles from Boise to Island Park. Lava tube caves and small cinder cones cluster in places like “Craters of the Moon” and “Hells Half Acre”, both near by. But the landscape is dominated by the extinct volcanoes that track northeast following the path of that “hot spot” toward The Yellowstone. On a good day, years earlier, I jumped butte to butte en route to Idaho’s first 100+ mile flight.

At launch, I hook into my all magenta wing. I am sweltering in multilayered winter gear: neck gaiter, balaclava, helmet, goggles, parka, expedition rated mittens. All this will zip inside a heavily padded foam harness once airborne. I bare a hand to throw a few switches and finalize the equipment check. Variometer, altimeter, compass, CB radio, and oxygen tank with regulator all pass muster.

Heat stirs the air. The scent of distant sage wafts through launch in cycles. The mountain has started to breath. A cumie is born and we are ready. Frank was right, it looks great.

Mother and I used to marvel in the shapes of the clouds. Like many others, we would lie in the grass and imagine. Wispy cirrus became Rapunzel’s long tresses. Stratus were the waves of an upside down ocean. These were clouds that changed little as we watched. They were mere pictures in the sky. But the cumulus, ah… they were alive! Playful otters, a fleeing seahorse, a squawking penguin, a rooting pig; a veritable zoological menagerie, alive, doing stuff! These clouds were born of the noonday sun, writhing in birth on a gush of wind. Feeding from the warmth of the earth they grew quickly and morphed through playful youth, exuberant adolescence and powerful maturity. In old age they became irritable and looked scraggly around the edges. Unpredictably, their play might turn suddenly fierce. Hail stones, fire bolts, and sudden gales were their weapons. All fled before their fury. Such fickle power wielded so carelessly. Surely this was the abode of gods. Someday… I wondered?

I stepped into the air and joined the dance. The cotton puffs today looked friendly enough. I chose one for a partner, and circled up in the warm draft that fed it. The rest of the gaggle was soon airborne and the radio cackled with Frank’s enthusiasm, Ken’s glum predictions, and Eijis laughter.

Cloudbase rose with the warming of the day and soon we were sipping bottled oxygen at 15,000 ft.

“My turn” declared Eiji as he centered on a thermal and cored up to tickle the belly of a puffy cloud. Flying in clouds is blind, dangerous, and illegal, but back then we figured we were OK as long as the cloud was small and two didn’t try to share the same cloud at the same time.

“Isn’t this great” It was Frank. “I’m heading out” and he disappeared for the next cloud.

Ken was mum.

And so it went. We jumped cloud to cloud, jibing, ribbing, competing for the best lift. We drifted down wind, chasing dream laden clouds.

The sky had looked great (Frank was right), but the push just wasn’t there for big XC (Eiji was right), and now the shadows were converging to shut out the sun (Ken was right)

“I knew we were screwed, damn” came Kens predicted assessment.

Without the sun the earth wouldn’t warm to create the thermals to keep us aloft. Pilots fluttered out of the sky and landed near the town of Blackfoot (home to the biggest cement potato in the world). For all but one, the day had yielded a delightful but paltry 22 mile flight. I lingered in the sky, milking what little heat was left.

“It’s getting pretty ratty in the LZ. Better put her down quick” warned Frank.

But it was already too late in the game. The sky had turned dark. Behind us, and unseen, the horizon had vanished in an advancing wall of dirt. Below, our chosen landing zone had erupted with a half dozen dust devils. Like miniature tornadoes they snaked upwards, carrying dust, debris, and bits of sage. I’d never seen so many in one area.

“Get down here now” came Tony’s plea.

Radical maneuvers might have gotten me there, but the LZ had turned to a snake pit. I though I might try somewhere else.

I jammed the speed bar to my knees and raced before the gathering storm. Perhaps I could find quieter air ahead. Everything was lifting now. Powered not by the gentle warming of the sun, this phenomenon was generated by the arrival of cold air. Slipping out of some remote snow clad valley, a cold heavy air mass had tumbled down from the mountains. Now that cold air was roaring down as an avalanche of dust wedging all things not well rooted into the sky. I, apparently, was not well rooted.

Pilots like to be in control of their aircraft. I was not in control of my aircraft. The instruments went off scale. The rate of ascent needle pegged against its restraining pin. The altimeter churned like the second hand on a clock. The variometer audio screeched to a never heard octave. I pitched the glider forward into a full dive that seemed to have no effect on my climb. Ahead I could see blue sky, but above a dark flat bottomed expanse was drawing me in as though on a tractor beam. With diminishing hope I raced for the blue. The air grew cold. The world darkened. Briefly there were wisps. Then all went terrifyingly gray.

Losing reference to the ground in a hang glider is not a good thing. Centripetal force obfuscates all sense of pitch, roll, and yaw. Imagine falling off a merry-go-round into a deep eddy and swimming… at night.

“We’ve lost visual… What’s your status” came the sexy voice from Ken's truck.

The altimeter reeled past 17,000 and I began to shiver in the howling wind. I mumbled some hypoxic gibberish about hoar frost forming on the sail. Tony’s broken reply: “Whoring sailor, you say… come back.” That was the last useful thing that got though. The cold weakened batteries would transmit no more. I could only monitor the forlorn unanswered queries.

19,000 ft: the shivers progressed to fits of shaking. The darkness flashed and was ripped an instant later with a mind numbing CRACK. It was all I could do to keep a compass bearing generally east. At 20,000 I stuffed the oxygen tubing in my mouth and turned the regulator up full. It would empty in minutes. 22,000…

A bit of turbulence and a diminishing shriek from the vario heralded an abrupt brightening of the murk. Suddenly I was suspended over the edge of a vertical white wall. I had burst from the body of a giant, a mammoth cumulonimbus, the monster of my mother’s zoo. Below lay the billowing towers of lesser creatures and deeper still the darkness where land should be.

Almost claustrophobic in the enshrouding fog, I suddenly found myself, like Wiley Coyote in the “Road Runner” rerun, looking down in sudden agoric realization.

The cloud marked the boundary of the rising air. Outside in the sunshine, I turned my wing into a slipping spiral that dumped altitude like a wing shot goose. Warmer air soon loosened the icy rime which fell up and away like a space shuttle loosing tiles on reentry.

I had outrun my angry pursuer and dashed from his closing grasp. I would be OK.

This would be an excellent place to end this tale. But… excuse me, I haven’t landed yet… not by a long yet.

Descending rapidly a new dilemma became apparent. There was no place to land. The storm had swept me off the desert and over the steep foothills that rise in jagged succession to Wyoming’s Teton and Gros Ventre wilderness. Running east from the storm I was sinking into trouble. I scratched and searched in vain for the lift to sustain me to safety. Now the sink alarm sounded. I felt like I’d just jumped from the frying pan.

Behind me lurked the storm. From here I could better gauge its measure. An awesome spectacle rose before me: talons, wings, neck and head, and a huge maw. A bolt of lightening and the fire breathing visage of a mythical serpent reared to great me.

The INEEL is a nuclear research facility not far from the volcanoes we fly. Ken works there. He told me once of a game early researchers claim to have played when they tired of ‘Go Fish’. They would select two sub critical masses of plutonium and move them close enough together to initiate a chain reaction. The trick, of course, was to get them apart quickly enough before things got too exciting. They called their game “Tickling the Dragon”. Makes what I was considering seem almost sane.

Perhaps it was all the adrenaline. Perhaps it was the foolish invincibility that comes of being incredibly lucky. Lifting air could be my salvation and I new where to find it. All I had to do was tickle a dragon.

I turned to face the serpent. Its dark heart growled at my approach. I held course, waiting, it’s mass growing nearer. Just ahead shreds of vapor screamed upwards to the belly of the beast. The nose of the glider lurched upwards and I turned to ride the storm.

A bit like surfing I suppose. Push the nose down and ride out in front, then slow or double back to catch the wave again. The lift was always there, just in front of the cloud.

The storm front stretched north/south and was working east. I could see where I needed to be. The Swan Valley carries the waters of the South Fork of the Snake. It gathers the snow melt from the Tetons and carries it west passing just 10 miles north of my position. The valley is broad and landable. By crabbing along the storm front I thought I might reach it.

Maneuvering forward and back and canting to the north I soon achieved that goal. It seemed easy. Had I tickled the dragon? Perhaps tamed the beast? Heck, I had a collar on it’s neck and was straddling the dang thing! The once mighty Titan was doing my bidding. What power I controlled at my fickle whim. Was this what the gods did for amusement? Now if I could just figure out how to throw those lightning bolts…

Power can be intoxicating. (Like I needed more intoxicants just then)

Ignoring many fine landing areas I whipped the serpent eastward up the valley. I paused briefly at Pallisades Dam and considered the prospects of crossing 13 miles of water. The reservoir was full leaving only trees and rocky slopes on either side. Alpine, Wyoming beckoned out of sight.

I spurred my steed. No worries for I was Thor incarnate.

The lake crossing should have made me pucker. The trees were tall and the water frigid. I needed lift, but of course I had “Puff” to carry me through. And he did, 15,000 ft the whole way.

I shouldn’t have ridden him so hard. He was spent by the time we crossed over into Wyoming. I circled down through a steady rain to splash down on the 16^th fairway of a private golf course. The natives were friendly and had a phone. No horse packing today, Frank.

Discuss "Tickling the Dragon" at the Oz Report forum   link»

2009 New South Wales State Titles, day 3, task 3

Again with the possibility of overdevelopment and an east wind, we head west then south.

(Mt Borah, Manilla, Australia)

Belinda Boulter|Ben Dunn|Davis Straub|Ian Duncan|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|New South Wales State Titles 2009|PG|William "Billo" Olive

The results, getting better every day.



The forecast again calls for overdevelopment  perhaps just scattered thunderstorms and cu-nimbs, it is never exactly clear just what the RASP and XCSkies mean when they forecast areas of no lift or a general area of overdevelopment. A general area is likely to actually be a few specific areas, but who knows which ones.

The forecast is also for a light east wind at launch elevation, but around 6 to 8 knots on average through the boundary layer. Cu's are in the forecast with cloudbases at 8,000'.

Given our safety considerations, i.e. stay away from cu-nimbs, we decide to head west as far as we can (Bogabri, before the forest) and then south. It's a crap shoot just where the cu-nimbs will be, but maybe if we go early enough and have a short enough task (100 km) we will avoid running into them.

The east wind is quite strong when we get up to the east launch but dies off quickly. We call a 12:30 launch time and 1:30 start open window. The east launch is only launchable when there is a thermal coming up the face (given that the wind has died out), and I launch potato waiting for a good thermal. Finally I let Bruce and Ian through when there is a little wind (but nothing down below), then wait again until there actually is a thermal.

Billo is checking the trees down below and says something is coming. I tell Belinda to tell the guys behind me to be ready to go immediately after I go because the thermals have been short. Five pilots get off.

Conrad and I fly over to the northern launch where Dick Heffer got up in the last thermal (which he took with him when he launched just in front of me). We don't find anything. We do see Maxim head out east to a thermaling paraglider and find a good thermal just before he gets there. A half dozen of us come in under him and this thermal takes all of us to cloudbase at 10 minutes before the opening of the first start window.

Bruce, Ian and Dick head west not paying much if any attention to the start gate time. I follow a bit lower but find lift at the edge of the start circle away from the hill and hang in it until the start window opens. You can start early, your flight is just moved back. It's great to have three pilots out in front of me, who are actually behind me when the scoring is done. Another example of why this way of handling early starts is the most appropriate way.

There is a sky full of fluffy little cu's and every now and then there is a solid core of lift, but for the most part it is broken up and a bit hard to work. Jonny and Blay start together south of me and 1000' higher so I don't see them. 10 kilometers into the task they see Maxim tumble on his Aeros glider.  After a few revolutions the wings fold up. After 50 seconds (it seems) Maxim throws his chute. He then separates from the glider. The glider and he land near each other next to the paved road. Jonny and Blay see that he is walking around and continue on their way. I'm a 1000' higher just to their north.

I come in over Jonny just before the gap and find good lift. I miss the fact that Blay is just to our north in much better lift. Jonny leaves our lift for what turns out to be better lift where Blay was and gets a jump on me. I come in under him and then work broken lift, heading west looking for better. Blay gets much higher than either of us.

I dive into the mine under a dark cu and find a solid core. Jonny and Blay have gone ahead and I've lost track of them. I'm five kilometers right of the course line. I climb to 6,500' and then head back toward the course line toward a dark cloud. Before I get there I hook a really powerful one and climb quickly to cloud base at 8,000'. While I'm climbing Blay has made the turnpoint and Jonny is low five kilometers before it.

I'm only 10 kilometers from the turnpoint at Bogabri and when I get to it I'm sitting over a bunch of pilots groveling, including Jonny. I find good lift there right away and climb back up high. Blay has already headed south, but is stuck low on a small hill. I leave the turnpoint with 7,300' and Jonny leaves at the same time with 5,900'.

I head for the small hill 10 km toward the south which is upwind of the course line a bit but it looks like there is a nearby cloud. I don't see Blay surfing the hill, but when I get there and find a nice core he is just over my head. We climb up to just over 6,000' and head out together. Jonny is just behind us and lower.

Blay and I continue flying together, me just to his left and behind and below him with Jonny a few kilometers behind. Blay goes on glide 19 kilometers from goal. I find a boomer of a thermal at 17 kilometers from goal and get real high very quickly. I go on glide and pass Blay as he gets low and has to work his way back up. Jonny comes in later.

Pedro Morelli takes the last start time and blazes through the course in less than two hours, taking first place. Ian Duncan, who started early, is second, and I'm third for the day.

Day Three:

Discuss 2009 New South Wales State Titles, day 3, task 3 at the Oz Report forum   link»

Tamworth

Down the road from Manilla

(Tamworth, Australia)

William "Billo" Olive

William Olive «William.Olive» writes:

Do you think that maybe somebody left that tap turned on?

Wet in Oz (or at least parts of it)

It was wet in Gulgong

(Gulgong, NSW, Australia)

weather|William "Billo" Olive

William Olive «William.Olive» writes:

The weather patterns on the east coast for November were very cold and wet. We arrived at Gulgong on Sunday and were told that it had sleeted the day before. It was very cold and windy on Sunday and the day was canned.

Friday we had 35mm of rain in one downpour, with more overnight. The strip was too wet to use, so even though Saturday may have been able to have a task, we could not launch.

Patrick dicing with Huey (Ozzie god of the weather), there were lightning bolts belting the next paddock over while he was out on the strip. His wife was watching and was quite concerned for his safety.

I'm away in Tamworth for work this week, and it flooded here (and Manilla etc) last weekend, so there's rubbish all over beside the road.

I do not know the official status of the drought. Around Tamworth it has being raining for quite a while and the area is very green, the greenest I have seen it in over twenty years. The Hunter Valley is also green, but not much river flow. Keepit dam is still very low, but should be getting a bit in now, the Hunter dams are pretty full since we've had 2 years of rain.

Out West, even around Gulgong, it is still pretty dry. I think the farmers were happy with the rain there last week.

South Australia could well be still in drought, but I do not know

Going Monkey

Was that a "control frame?" Was there any control at all?

Paul Voight|William "Billo" Olive

Paul Voight «flyhigh» sends:

Joe Faust (one of the first "modern day" hang glider pilots circa 1970's) wrote: We were all pretty young when this LIFE Magazine archive photographed a hang glider: armpit hang, engineless, harness, seat while he hung by the tether of his forearms and braced a bit with his feet in the triangles of the control frame, while have billowly flexible sails and a formed central keel section:

1905 Lift note #27: http://tinyurl.com/1905inControlFrame. In 1905 hang glider pilot standing in control frame flying his hang glider. Who will be building and flying a replica of this? Who is the pilot? Hanging and feet standing in control frame. Who will modernize, power-assist, and show this gem in contemporary moments?

Discuss Going Monkey at the Oz Report forum   link»

A big flight

(Gulgong, NSW, Australia)

Gulgong Classic 2008|weather|William "Billo" Olive

2008 Gulgong Classic

William Olive «William.Olive» writes:

Day one of the Gulgong Classic.

Cold weather and strong winds on the weekend meant that we did not fly on Sunday. Monday was the 1^st day, with fairly strong Southerlies. Task was 207 km.

Corryong Cup and Oz Comps

The web site is up

(Mt Borah, Manilla, Australia)

William "Billo" Olive

William Olive «William.Olive» writes:

Steve has the Corryong cup website up now at http://www.corryongcup.com

All three comp websites and registration, the Airborne Gulgong Classic, the Corryong Cup and the NSW Hang Gliding State Titles can be accessed from http://www.williamolive.com.

NSW State Titles

And the Corryong Cup

(Mt Borah, Manilla, Australia)

William "Billo" Olive

William Olive «William.Olive» writes:

Tim has been busy, and the NSW State Titles registration is now available. There's a link for rego, and on-line payment, from the comp web page at: http://www.williamolive.com/nswhgstatetitles/index.html

Also, the Corryong cup web page is on line, link from http://www.williamolive.com or direct at www.corryongcup.com. The rego page may not yet be up, but should be very soon. Tim is poised, just as soon as the comp organisers decide whether to use the HGFA rego page, or their own. (Hurry up lads, I want to register too).

Don't forget the Gulgong Classic is fast approaching, on-line rego and payment available at http://www.gulgongclassic.com.

Oz Comps

The NSW state titles are a week after the Bogong Cup

(Mt Borah, Manilla, Australia)

calendar|competition|Monica Barrett|William "Billo" Olive

William Olive «William.Olive» writes:

The Oz calendar is done again, and Tim has set up the HGFA comp registration page. The Airborne Gulgong Classic comp will be held on the 23^rd to 29^th of November 2008. The web page for the competition is up at www.gulgongclassic.com where you can find details of the comp, the field, and register to enter and pay on-line.

The NSW state titles comp (run by Monica Barrett) will be held over the dates of the 31^st of January to the 7^th of February. I'll get Tim to enter the comp into the HGFA registration program, and as soon as that is done I'll publish the web page and registration details.

Hope we will be seeing many of our old friends, and plenty of new friends too, again this year.

http://hgfa.asn.au

http://ozreport.com/calendar.php

This means that there are three FAI sanctioned competitions within five weeks in Australia this northern hemisphere winter.

March 5, 2008, 10:10:13 +1100

Medicine

I was going to write this story before my more major crash

(Mt. Borah, Manilla)

video|William "Billo" Olive

Conrad Lotten is again the hero of this story.

On Wednesday I blew a launch on the north launch at Mt. Borah. I did something very similar what you saw in the video of my launch on the west side later in the day. Likely I took two or three steps with the glider horizontal then let the glider nose come up. Also I launched on a flat slope with no cliff (until later) into no wind or wind from the side.

In this incident I suffered from cuts and and scratches. The glider suffered from a broken down tube, a bent downtube, and scruffs to the nose cone:

Click on above for high resolution shots. Thanks to Billo.

The picture above of the bandage has a story. This was the cut, a bit deep, a flap of skin that had to be cut off. The first thing we did was rinse the scrapes and cuts in lots of water. Conrad says the best thing that you can do for a cut or scrape is thoroughly rinse in in lots and lots of tap water. Doctors used to use sterilized water, but tap water turned out to be better because you used much more of it and the point was to get out the dirt and other bad particles. So the more the better. Thoroughly flush the wound.

We put betadine on the cuts, but Conrad said this was useless, that it killed the good with the bad. The ointments and anti infection agents didn't do anything useful. It's the original cleaning that counts to stop infection.

The next step was to get a bandage that kept the cut moist so that the skin could grow back quickly. Conrad went to the chemist and found OpSite post operative dressings. They required that I shave my leg around the wound in order to get them to stick to skin instead of hair.

This was a deeper wound than just a surface scratch, so the idea is that skin cells have a much easier time growing in areas where they are no continually dried out. I wanted a bunch of skin to grow back as quickly as possible. It is working.

I've had no infection on any of the wounds. The OpSite bandage stays on as long as I like. In fact there is no need to change the dressing, Conrad states. Better not to disturb the skin as it grows back. I can take a shower with the bandage and it stays attached to the skin.

Discuss Medicine at the Oz Report forum   link»

February 28, 2008, 7:11:00 +1100

Big thermal

Anvil Cloud from space

weather|William "Billo" Olive

thermalr fly «thermalr» sends:

http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=25&month=02&year=2008

The afternoon sky darkened. Grey clouds billowed to the heavens. Thunder shook the ground and lightning danced overhead. The first droplets of heavy rain were just hitting the ground when the spaceship flew by...

This really happened on Feb. 5^th when the International Space Station (ISS) flew over western Africa during an afternoon thunderstorm in Mali.

Discuss Big thermal at the Oz Report forum   link»

Gulgong

Low cloud base and interesting conditions

(Gulgong, NSW, Australia)

Cameron Tunbridge|Curt Warren|Flytec 6030|Gulgong Classic 2007|Jason Reid|photo|Scott Barrett|Tascha "Tish the Flying Fish" McLellan|Trent Brown|video|William "Billo" Olive

The latest scores will be up at: http://www.soaringspot.com/2007gc/results/

First, the pilot's IGC files can be found at the URL above. You just open up a day file and click on the pilot's number to download their IGC file/ track log for that day. If you have SeeYou installed and have it associated with IGC files, you can automatically open the file in SeeYou and animate it, for example. Or you can open multiple SeeYou files and fly pilots against each other in 3D.

The Soaring Spot is a great addition to SeeYou which was used for competition scoring at Gulgong. It has been improving daily as the folks at SeeYou add to it.

The 2007 Gulgong Classic was a technical and interesting competition. By technical, I mean that you just didn't climb in the strong thermals every day, pull in when the thermal slackened and fly as fast as possible until you ran into the next strong thermal. With days with low cloud bases and often weak scattered lift you had to search, search, search for lift.

Now that the pain of my relatively poor performance has begun to abate somewhat I can go back and look at the week of flying with perhaps a calmer perspective.

The first day started off with good conditions and a 7000' AGL cloud base and light winds. Little did we know how good that day would be compared to some of the following days. Getting "down" to 1,700' AGL on the first glide out from the start circle was avoidable if I had just been willing to take earlier on the glide lighter lift than I had been experiencing in the start circle. The cu's ahead were just too inviting.

With all the good lift after that I wasn't patient enough and smart enough to get high enough on the way back, especially when it came to taking good lift in the hilly region before heading out to the flats, and landed short of goal when almost every one else made it.

I wasn't quite prepared for this first day of racing even with a practice day (which I didn't take full advantage of). Just getting in the air and feeling the glider was a thrill and it was so much fun to fly. I hadn't really learned how to glide with it yet. That took a day or two. Thermaling was almost automatic.

Without the stick on reading lens I couldn't read the arrow on the 6030, so I was at a bit of a loss as to where to go to. I got confused by the 25 km turnpoint cylinder. I didn't slow down a bit and keep climbing in the last thermal. I was losing my focus there. All and all a very fun day and not too bad emotionally when I landed out.

The second day was a strong racing day into a headwind out and tail wind back to goal at the airstrip. There were plenty of cu's, still I got low a couple of times and had to carefully assess the situation to find the best lift. Cloud base was 7,500' AGL. Long fast glides were possible.

On this day I did relatively well, but could have done much better. I was second around the second turnpoint. I just didn't find the good thermals on the way back while others did. I need to improve my thermal sniffing abilities.

On the third day conditions get much weaker. I spent over an hour over the tow paddock just staying up while all but one of the other pilots landed or stayed on the ground. I had to get up from much lower altitudes (down to 500' AGL) on this day than on the previous two days. Still I was able to climb to 5000' AGL before a large shaded area.

Scott was able to get around this shaded area while I flew through it (and didn't find any lift). I was not willing to climb higher before the shaded given the 100% cloud coverage in that area and my desire to keep some distance between me and the clouds. I should have taken the lift 1000' higher, giving me a chance to find some lift just past the shaded area.

Also I should not have given up on the shaded area no matter how wide spread. Scott made his way though it to my right and I could have tried harder to take a different path and looked for lift.

Scott and Cameron did well on the first two days and now on the third day Scott has set the pace (what is possible for that day) by being the only pilot to make goal. A review of his track log shows him finding lift in the shaded area.

On the fourth day, a down winder to Rhylston, I find one thermal to 5,500' AGL but otherwise we stay below 4,000' AGL. We can go down wind fast, but have to keep our eyes out for thermals. Often the clouds aren't working.

Again Scott went fast but Curt went faster starting fifteen minutes later. I didn't climb as well as I should and went back for lift when I should have gone on toward goal. I also didn't find lift under a long line of clouds over the hills,. Afterwards Tish told me that she went further out into the valley at the edge of the clouds and got a much better glide.

It rained hard on the fifth day and this really damped down the conditions for day six. Cloud base was 4,000' AGL and you felt high when you got there. I had to survive after getting down to 350' AGL. Really focusing on that little thermal and staying in it was what saved me.

I made a mistake not getting high before the hills west of Wellington. It was no good just knowing I had enough altitude to get over them hills and hoping for lift over them. I needed to get a few thousand feet more in the flats before attempting the run.

There would be no lift on the lee side of the hills (at least for a few kilometers) because the strong ( 18 mph) winds would push them away from the hills, so it was futile to think that I could get lift low on the lee side. When I didn't get high enough on the upwind side, I needed to turn 90° to the course line and fly along the front of the hills (before the hills) to find lift to get at least three thousand over them.

On day seven I was the first pilot to get to cloud base at 4,000' AGL and I stayed there running just under the cloud street to the edge of the hills. After running off the end of the cloud street I just could not find good lift no matter how hard I looked. Cameron, right behind me, had no problem finding it under a developing cu, that I didn't see. He had me acting as a little sniffer dog out in front.

I was willing (as I always seem to be) to go out in front on my own especially when there are lots of clouds. I figured they are the thermal indicators. Unfortunately, not always the case.

I made many mistakes during this competition. I just wish I knew what many of them were. Just flying with Cameron on the last day instead of going out on my own on a weak day with light lift would have helped immensely.

Billo writes:

The Cudgegong Soarers club hosted the 2007 Airborne Gulgong Classic at their Stubbo airfield. We are lucky to have the use of this facility for this comp. This year we flew six days out of the seven, and while conditions were not epic, the tasks were testing. This year's winners were, Scott Barrett, Cameron Tunbridge and Trent Brown. Jason Reid won kingpost class.

Our tug drivers were Smokey, Matt Olive and Pete Marheine, and they were tireless workers towing up the field every day.

I will update the website with the scores and photos over the next day or two. http://www.gulgongclassic.com

The Gulgong video with the soon to be famous Curt Warren foot launch: http://www.williamolive.com/videos/gulgong-2007-trailer.wmv.

Discuss "2007 Gulgong Classic - a review" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Gulgong

We start with a short task and lots of cu's

(Gulgong, NSW, Australia)

Cameron Tunbridge|Chris Jones|Gulgong Classic 2007|Scott Barrett|William "Billo" Olive

Cameron Tunbridge|Chris Jones|Flytec 6030|Gulgong Classic 2007|Scott Barrett|William "Billo" Olive

We are here to have a great time and we are having it. The tugs are pulling us up fast, the lift is there. The winds are light. The cui-nimbs don't form until very late in the day. Most pilots make it back to goal.

What I saw:

I'm first in line twenty minutes after the start window opens at noon. No one is rushing to launch obviously. They will get going a bit earlier tomorrow as they probably didn't get launched exactly when they wanted to on Sunday. A bunch of us had our gliders already setup in the hangar (you'd think that we were in Big Spring) from the practice day, so we just had to slide on over to launch. They've got five dollies here so there is no crowding.

I pin off at 1,000' AGL in an obviously fat thermal (I've got the averager set correctly now to 15 seconds), and gently climb to 6,500' AGL. and cloud base. There is plenty of lift around. The glider is a joy to thermal in and the thermals are as smooth as can be.

Scott Barrett says to thermal the C4-13.5 just push out, and the glider does the rest. And, in fact, that is all there is to it. Push out and the glider starts turning into the thermal. That makes it pretty easy.

I see Chris Jones head out low just before the first start clock toward some clouds to the west, but they look further than 5 km away from the center of the 5 km start circle to me, so I go back and play in the lift and wait until the second start time at 1:20 PM. I'm high then and head out with four other pilots. There are cu's right up the course line after a patch of blue.

The task is an out and return to a 25 km radius turnpoint circle around Wellington to the west south west. That would make for only a 77 km task.

After a thirteen kilometer glide through the blue three of us have to stop in 100 fpm at 1,700' AGL and work our way slowly back up.

Still it finally turns on and the lift is strong under black clouds after that. I'm having a bit of trouble knowing just where to go. The direction arrow on the new Flytec 6030 is much smaller than on the 5030 and with my 20/30 vision and astigmatism it is really hard for me to make it out. So I get off course a bit, but maybe that is a good thing cause the clouds there are working.

The C4-13.5 is thermaling great. I'm having a bit of trouble getting a feel for the glide though. This will take a few days to feel natural. There is a lot of rope on the VG line which makes for an easy pull, but I'm unsure as to how much to pull. Learning once again.

Scott Barrett started at the first start clock by himself and is out in front doing well. He was further to the north when he started and I didn't see him at all or I would have gone with him then. Many pilots will start later at the 1:40 PM start time.

I get to the 25 km radius turnpoint without realizing that I've made it. I didn't hear or register hearing the beep of the point being lay down in the turnpoint cylinder by the 6030. I'm too used to the 5030. Also, the 25 km radius for the turnpoint was enough to throw my thinking off a bit.

After realizing I've gone too far into the turnpoint cylinder I race back and come in low over a hill that has a nice black cloud over it. This is the last climb I need to get to goal. Unfortunately the cloud is dying not forming and I land 15 km out. Most pilots make goal.

One pilot got a little confused and made it to a 400 meter cylinder around the turnpoint and back to goal for the longest flight of the day. Scott was first into goal. Cameron Tunbridge won the day taking the second start time and going faster than Scott. Chris Jones landed out on the leg out.

Cameron and Billo at the last minute asked to use my SeeYou scoring script for OzGAP 2005 so I'm helping with the scoring. Scores are up at: http://www.soaringspot.com/2007gc/results/

I have limited internet access here in this town that time forgot, so things may be a little spotty.

Discuss Gulgong at the Oz Report forum         del.icio.us

Airborne

Towing!

(Porepunkah, VIC, Australia)

Airborne Demo Days

Airborne Australia|William "Billo" Olive

William Olive «William.Olive» writes:

Airborne is hitting the road with some demo days, starting with Porepunkah on the Melbourne cup long weekend. We may not have horse racing (who cares?) But we will have microlights and hang gliders and aerotow and hills to launch from. Dates 3^rd to the 6^th of November.

There will be a weekend at Pete Marheine's place on the 1^st weekend in December. Why not be there and we'll make it a Christmas party too.

See: http://www.williamolive.com/documents/Airborne_demo_07_hunter.pdf

Denman

Billo takes some aerial photos up the Hunter Valley

(Pete's near Denman)

photo|William "Billo" Olive

William Olive «William.Olive» sends:

I've posted a couple of words and pictures from Denman here. It may look a little different from when you last saw it. The bridge is closed indefinitely due to damage it received in the flood.

http://www.williamolive.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=1991#1991

Newcastle

Flying trams

(Merewether, NSW, Australia)

Adam Parer|Scott Barrett|Simon Plint|William "Billo" Olive

Simon Plint «simon.plint» writes:

Two of our pilots, Scott Barrett and Adam Parer, from the Newcastle Hang Gliding Club (NHGC) are in the Australian team for the Worlds so I just thought I'd put a little encouragement up on our forum in the form of an animated GIF. You can see it here:

http://williamolive.com/phpbb/ or download the file here: http://www.williamolive.com/splint/uploads/AusInBigSpring_Big.gif  or http://www.williamolive.com/splint/uploads/AusInBigSpring_Small.gif

We have a thing about Trams at NHGC. It stems back to a pilot making a low save whilst being read a passage from a Tram maintenance book.

The pilot was getting low and made it back up and credited the reading for it. It doesn't sound right but maybe he was concentrating too hard on his flying and that's why he got low. The fact that his mind was distracted by something totally out of left field may have actually helped him fly better. At least that's the way I interpret the story.

I think it may have happened at a NSW State Titles and the team was called Team Bodge. I think the members were Alan Daniels, Dustan Hansen, Don Gardner and Alaric Giles (Dr Death). Billo would have been running the comp that year.

We now have a section on our forum called Trams and it seems to have become some sort of repository for silliness. A relief valve if you like.

Oz Calendar

They finally agreed on a schedule for their summer extravaganza

(Forbes airfield, Oz)

calendar|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Vicki Cain|weather|William "Billo" Olive|World Pilot Ranking Scheme

How about heading for Australia when things get cold and dreary here in the northern hemisphere? The Australian organizers have put together a couple of great competitions (and there are additional competitions happening also) for January. They have made it so you can come to Australia after Christmas and enter two top flight competitions. And for those of you who can come early, they've got two additional top flight competitions.

http://www.hgfa.asn.au/Competition/compcalendar.htm

Canungra Classic 2007, 13 - 20 Oct 2007

The Canungra Classic happens in the tropics in the spring so the flying is likely to be good. It might be a little early for foreign pilots (but that didn't stop Chris Smith last year), but if you can get there it's a great start to the southern hemisphere flying season. You can see how it went last year here: http://OzReport.com/10.213#7

Gulgong Classic 2007, 18 - 24 Nov 2007

Billo and Airborne start off the early parts of the summer season with a really fun competition in the wine growing country west of Newcastle. They had spectacular conditions there last November, with pilots getting to 14,000'.

Forbes Flatlands (NATIONALS), 6 - 13 Jan 2008, (Practice Day 5^th Jan)

Vicki Cain is putting on the Forbes Flatlands again with Drew Cooper as the meet director. We had a great time this year, and I look forward to having a great time next year. You can see how it went this year starting here: http://ozreport.com/11.002#0 and then click the right pointing red arrow at the top of this issue of the Oz Report to read the next issue.

You'll notice that the Forbes Flatlands start off the new year on the 5^th. Gives you plenty of time to have Christmas with the family before abandoning them for your own selfish purposes.

Bogong Cup, 16 - 23 Jan 2008, (Practice Day 15^th Jan)

Carol (organizer) and Heather (meet director) want us back to the foot hills of the Kiewa and Ovens valleys just to show that they can have great weather there after all (as we have had on so many days before). You can find out more than you've ever wanted to know about the Bogong Cup in any of the 310 Oz Report articles about it here.

NSW State Titles, (Manilla), 23 Feb - 3 Mar 2008

We "end" the season with the always exciting NSW State Titles that takes place at Mt. Borah near Manilla in northern New South Wales. We had a great time this year. You can read about it starting here: http://OzReport.com/11.024#6.

I tried with all my might to get the NSW Titles to happen "soon" after the Bogong Cup, but no luck there. That would have been a great marketing tool for these competitions. You could much more easily get foreign pilots to come for three top flight competitions (and bring their WPRS rankings to help up the value of these competitions) if they were close together. Now the NSW State Titles drops back to also ran status, in spite of having Jonny Durand and Lukas Bader.

I tried really hard to get the Australian meet organizers to think about the big picture. About marketing their country and its greatness to the rest of the world. I have to assume that they get it, but that other considerations are just more important to them (or somebody). Very disappointing to me. Maybe they just assume that folks can come and spend six months there (not a bad idea).

Our plan is to be there for the Gulgong Classic and the two competitions thereafter.

Discuss Oz Calendar at the Oz Report forum         del.icio.us

Gulgong

The dates are set November 18 through 24^th - 6 days

(Gulgong, NSW, Australia)

Gulgong Classic 2007|William "Billo" Olive

Billo «William.Olive» writes:

This year will be the sixth 2007 Airborne Gulgong classic hang gliding aerotow comp. The comp will be held on the last week in November for a full six days. Comp dates are 18^th to the 24^th of November, with the 17^th as a practice day.

Your AUD$400.00 fee provides entry to the competition, all tows on comp days, presentation dinner, T shirt, daily airstrip fees and hang garage in the club hangars. (Note that space in the hangars may be limited, so first in is best dressed, and the tugs get preference.)

This comp allows pilots to concentrate on their flying, without the hassle of organization of tows (pilots will be responsible for their own retrieval). We welcome all pilots who are aerotow and cross country capable, but entry numbers are strictly limited to the first 50 entries. You can go to www.gulgongclassic.com for information on the competition and contact details, photo galleries from previous years. On-line registration will be available soon.

The previous comps have proved the formula and the Mudgee/Gulgong area, as well as being a nice place to fly is a wine growing area with much to offer the visitor.

Discuss Gulgong at the Oz Report forum         del.icio.us

Morning Glory

When to find the Morning Glory

(Karumba, Australia)

video|William "Billo" Olive

Rob Thompson writes to Billo «William.Olive» in Newcastle:

I've finally got around to putting a heap of meteorological information in a web site http://www.morninggloryaustralia.com which has video as well as the basics on how to predict glories. I thought you and the lads in Newcastle might be interested. I hope you're not too far underwater.

Discuss Morning Glory at the Oz Report forum         del.icio.us

Hunter

Oz Report readers may remember my stories in February about the Hunter Valley

(Denman, NSW, Australia)

PG|Ricky Duncan|William "Billo" Olive

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6744201.stm

How we visited the vineyards where the grapes were all desiccated. Of course, then the rains came for the paragliding worlds, but not that much in the Hunter Valley itself. Then the rains came to the coast at Newcastle, but again, dry inland. Well, now it is wet there.

http://ozreport.com/11.020

Billo «William.Olive» writes:

Al Giles and I went for a fly over the river and down to the harbour on Monday. I have posted an album of pics taken on Sunday and Monday from that flight at:

http://www.williamolive.com/nhgc/gallery/pasha-bulker/album.html

You may recognise some of the land marks. Note in photo DSC6100 the airstrip is in the centre of the photo, mostly submerged in flood waters. There was two feet of water through the hanger on Saturday.

The airstrip is Wallsend, where Ricky Duncan parks his trike (and so did I until recently). Wallsend is on the Western edge of Newcastle city.

Route on Google Earth here.

Discuss Hunter at the Oz Report forum         del.icio.us

Newcastle

The video

(Nobbies beach) (Merewether, NSW, Australia)

video|William "Billo" Olive

Billo writes:

A little raw video footage of our new porta-ridge. As you can see, it faces nicely SE and should be quite soarable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA-5xie5cVs

More here.

They are going to try and move it soon. I wish them luck, it was put there by a storm sea on a king tide. It will be a long wait for a tide high enough to float it off. (it sits on the beach in the front and a rock reef at the back)

Discuss Newcastle at the Oz Report forum         del.icio.us

June 9^th

The big flight

(Brisbane, Queensland, Australia)

William "Billo" Olive

William Olive «William.Olive» writes:

On this day, Saturday 9^th of June 1928, Charles Kingsford Smith, Charles Ulm and Americans Harry Lyon and Jim Warner, landed their trimotor Fokker aircraft, the Southern Cross at Eagle Farm, Brisbane, completing the historic crossing in 83 hours, 38 minutes, of flying time.

Arguably the greatest of all the intercontinental flights of the post WW I era, Smithy and his plane and crew battled to cross two storm infested inter-tropic zones in one night's flying in an aircraft that cruised little faster (and had little more crew protection) than my trike.

Newcastle

The bet is on who is first to soar the wrecks

(Nobbies beach) (Dixon park) (Stockton beach) (Blacksmiths beach)

Adam Parer|fatality|Rob Hibberd|weather|William "Billo" Olive

Billo writes:

http://www.williamolive.com/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=102

The bet's on for the 1^st pilot to launch from Merewether and soar down to the wreck, soar the wreck and land on the beach. Bonus points apply if you can get back to Fort Scratchley.

adam parer «adamparer» writes:

I just drove into the city of Newcastle with Laurence. WOW!!!!

The ship you have pictured in the Oz Report is the first and may have company soon. Right at this moment there is another fighting a battle to not run aground on Dixon park. Its funnel is pouring smoke obviously the engines are at 110%. It may only be 300 meters off shore. The waves are massive and we fear the ship might be fighting a losing battle. The coastline is chock-a-block with people watching and hoping for a good outcome.

There is another one in the same situation off Stockton Beach and another is copping a hammering at Blacksmiths beach 8km south of Newcastle.

What is most ominous is five minutes ago the sky opened up into a blue hole, the wind dropped right off for a while then started rotating around from the NE-NW and now the wind is blowing rain horizontal from the SW.

Rob Hibberd «RobH» sends:

We are getting some severe weather conditions. This 40,000 ton coal ship broke anchor and is very close to Nobbies beach.

Discuss Newcastle at the Oz Report forum         del.icio.us

Dalby

Jon Durand Senior hurt. Dave Seib wins

(Dalby, Queensland, Australia)

Dragonfly|Grant Heaney|Jon Durand snr|photo|Scott Barrett|William "Billo" Olive

Billo writes:

The comp ran from the 25^th of March to the 31^st of March, and although conditions this year were not epic, as they have been in past comps, we got in rounds on six of the seven days. The Oz national team members Dave Seib and Scott Barrett were able to get some more valuable aerotow flatlands practice prior to Big Springs. Dave Seib won the comp, followed by Scott Barrett and Grant Heaney was third.

A Trans Tasman challenge was run between teams of seven New Zealanders and seven Ozzies. The Ozzies won comfortably, but the Kiwis put up a good showing and won a day. Jon Durand Snr was doing well until he hurt his shoulder on landing at Miles and didn't fly again during the comp. He was on the local Ozzie team, so they finished the next three rounds a man down. It was good to see the Kiwis, and we hope to see more of them here in the future.

There were four tugs this year, and we were getting the field off most days in an hour or so. Dragonfly pilots were Dalby club tugmaster Bob (Smokey) Keen, Dragonfly owner Bruce Carera and Canungra instructor Leroy Patterson. Billo flew his Airborne trike. We had hundreds of launches during the comp period all without incident.

Some of my photos from the week are posted as an html album at;

http://www.williamolive.com/nhgc/gallery/dalbybigair2007/index.html

Results: http://ozreport.com/2007dalby.php

Although it's run somewhat late in the Oz competition season the timing is perfect for the area and I commend this comp to you. Dalby is a great place to fly, hats off to the Dalby club for another well run event. I'm looking forward to next year's comp already

Dalby

Half way through in Queensland

(Dalby, Queensland, Australia)

William "Billo" Olive

Billo wrote:

We're a bit more than half way through the Big Air. Cameron Tunbridge is Scorer.

Dave Seib is in front (no surprises there). There are seven New Zealand pilots in a trans Tasman challenge.

I'll post results when I get home on Sunday

Discuss Dalby at the Oz Report forum

Mudgee

A weekend for the pilots from Newcastle

(Mudgee Airport, NSW, Australia)

photo|William "Billo" Olive

william olive «william.olive» writes:

Article from Al Daniels (the boy can write!): http://www.williamolive.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=507

My photos from the Mudgee weekend here: http://www.williamolive.com/nhgc/gallery/mudgee/mudgee.html

Google Earth track logs are here: http://williamolive.com/geupload/TrackLogs/mudgee 03012997.kmz

More pictures, from Matt in the Outback this time: http://www.williamolive.com/nhgc/gallery/mudgee-matts/mudgee-matts.html

Discuss Mudgee at the Oz Report forum

Worlds

Before the storms

(Mt Borah, Manilla)

PG|PG worlds 2007|William "Billo" Olive

Billo writes:

I attended the opening ceremony and day one of the paragliding worlds. I have to say, Godfrey has done a marvelous job of organising the show. The opening parade was well attended. I have never seen so many people in the Manilla main street before, and there was an equally impressive crowd to watch the air display. As the F18 roared overhead and climbed vertically on full afterburners, accompanied by a thunderously loud fireworks mortar, one could only wonder at what all that noise might be doing to the horses in the adjacent paddocks. The owners of these horses complain about the relative whisper from the trike's Rotax.

On the first day there were so many people going up Mount Borah that there was an actual traffic jam. So much so that the meet organiser was late getting up the hill. We watched as the great looking sky full of Cus developed into Cb and started raining. The day, of course, was cancelled, just prior to the 1^st competitors starting. Such a shame, it's always good to start a comp with a good round.

I've posted an HTML album of pics at;

http://www.williamolive.com/nhgc/gallery/manilla-pg-worlds-2007/manilla-pg-worlds-2007.html 

But of course, no actual PG worlds competitors in flight.

Newcastle

How about hanging out in a hang glider paradise?

(Merewether LP, NWS, Australia)

William "Billo" Olive

The Newcastle/Hunter area is not that well known by northern hemisphere pilots. They are not aware of the opportunities for flying that are available there. Their focus is on Bright or Manilla, or the competition scene. They don't know what the locals know.

http://www.williamolive.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=1345 A letter to the Newcastle/Hunter valley pilots:

During my wonderful stay in the Newcastle area this year between the Bogong Cup and the NSW Titles, I had the notion that it would perhaps be a good idea to invite northern hemisphere pilots to come and enjoy the flying in and around the Newcastle and Hunter valley area. It seemed to me to be a perfect area for pilots to locate themselves for a week or more of varied flying with plenty of opportunities for enjoyment when the flying wasn't happening (although it seemed like almost every day it was when I was there).

My first consideration was how the local Newcastle and Hunter valley pilots would view these foreign pilots coming to their sites. Would they be welcome? Under what circumstances? How would the local club feel about promoting their area to outside pilots?

Obviously foreign pilots don't know where to go when in the area. They also don't know the specific site protocols, or where the controlled airspace is. They need specific knowledge of which sites are flown safely under what conditions. Knowledge that only local experienced pilots have.

They also need to know where it is okay to land and where they would cause trouble if they landed. They also need to know what skills are required to fly at the various sites.

This knowledge is what is normally required for any pilot flying at any site, but with so many different sites in this area, it is difficult for foreign pilots to feel comfortable coming here. It is so much easier to go to a single site, like Mt. Borah, who's owner has a commercial interest (in some respects).

So my first question is: Would you and the Newcastle hang gliding club members think it would be a good idea to promote the Newcastle/Hunter valley area as a destination for northern hemisphere pilots to encourage them to come to Australia and enjoy the hang gliding here?

Do you have any ideas about how it could be done in a way to protect the sites and keep the pilots as safe and unobtrusive as possible?

Discuss "Flying Newcastle/Hunter valley" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

NSW Finals

Who did what when

(Mt Borah, Manilla)

Belinda Boulter|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|New South Wales State Titles 2007|photo|weather|William "Billo" Olive

Part of the sixth task and flight

Billo hasn't put up the results yet, but when I have them I'll put up a link to them.

Lukas says that you can't win anything on a day like today, but you can certainly lose something. He really didn't want to fly, but he could have possibly lost second place to me if he didn't. Jonny could have lost first place to Lukas if he didn't fly. It turned out that the day was worth less than 500 points, so it likely wouldn't have mattered.

Here's how I think it came out:

1^st jonny
2^nd lucas
3^rd davis
4^th bruce
5^th cameron
6^th lenny
7^th alex
8^th pedro
9^th warren
10^th scott

Lukas and I had a good talk with Monica about how the decision to stop the task went. She was monitoring the radar and it didn't show any rain any where near Boggabri. I would assume that that reflected reality as I couldn't see any rain either, just the cu-nimb.

All her safety committee members had landed in the bomb out field and two were still there. Tony Barton had gone back up and launched again but wasn't far down the course line. Lukas contacted Monica with a message that he had landed because of the cu-nimb, but she wasn't ready to take his word for it.

She contacted Belinda to talk to me to get my read because she knew I was out there near Boggabri. She also contacted Scott who was out early and therefore near Boggabri also. So she had three pilots' input before she decided that she wanted to stop the task.

She then contacted a safety committee member, told him what she wanted to do, and he said, sound like a good idea. The task was then stopped ten minutes previous to the decision to stop it. All and all a very good procedure.

We had great weather here in Manilla, and the threat of thunderstorms just made it more interesting on a few days. I wonder if this is the break in El Nino and the drought will begin to break for Australia. The daily Australia infrared satellite photos showed clouds really only over our area for the last few days.

The meet has been great. A pleasure to be in. Monica helped make it fun. All the pilots enjoyed themselves. I look forward to coming back next year.

Mt. Borah is a great place to fly. The new road up to launch, the carpeting, the good conditions, the smooth air. Staying at Godfrey's is great.

Mt. Borah

Things change

(Mt. Borah south launch, Manilla)

PG|William "Billo" Olive

Billo writes:

Back in 1992 we went up our new site at Mt. Borah. On the south end of the ridge Phil Hystek had just finished with the axe, chopping out what became my favorite Borah launch (thanks Phil). This weekend for the practice and first days of the NSW hang gliding state titles many were once again launching from the south take off, but it's much changed from 1992.

Godfrey has bulldozed a much larger and rounded clearing and laid a synthetic lawn over it.

All the Borah launches have been upgraded and are excellent for both hang gliders and paragliders. Well done Godfrey.

Click on photo for for higher resolution version.

Hunter

Flying over green fields in multiple small valleys

(Pete's near Denman)

Adam Parer|Belinda Boulter|cart|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Quest Air|sailplane|Scott Barrett|William "Billo" Olive

Friday was Australia day and the beginning of a three day weekend. The plan was to go out to Pete's place north of Denman in the Upper Hunter Valley a couple of hours' drive from Newcastle. Pete has a grass strip on his property and an Airborne XT-582 trike. It sure is great having a local trike company selling trikes that then can be used to tow you up. The connection gets made early.

Here is a shot of Pete's place: http://www.williamolive.com/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=43&pos=3

We headed out around 10 AM with heavy overcast skies in Newcastle and these persisted until we were almost half way there, when they broke up into puffy little cu's every where. The Upper Hunter was gorgeous with treed hill sides and green pastures. It turns out that it had rained 50 mm a week earlier and all the brown areas turned green. I had never seen it so lush.

Like the rest of southern Australia the Hunter is suffering from a drought. There is no water in the river and stream beds and no water to irrigate the grapes in this wine grape growing area. There are a few leaves on each vine, and for the most part no grapes. There hasn't been much water for the last 18 months. But the pastures are presently beautiful and it was great fun driving through them to Pete's place.

As we drove up we passed a Wedge-Tail Eagle sitting on the wooden fence not twenty feet from the road. He was not perturbed by us driving by. He was a big bird. I turned around a few hundred yards up the road and came by him again, more slowly, but now he took notice, but didn't fly off.

I turned around again a few hundred yards off and came by again, at maybe 30 kmh, but he decided that he had had enough of us. Had he followed us turning around? Was it just our slower speed or had he figured out that we were actually checking him out and represented a threat?

Pete has a lovely setup and Billo had flown in his trike from Newcastle also, anticipating a crowd of pilots from the local club. But there were just six or seven of us with a couple of pilots already in the air.

I set up an Airborne C4-13.5 quickly, but saw that the wind was coming from the wrong direction down the strip, so I hauled the glider on the cart to the other end. Billo was flying the trike, so off we went with out a problem. It's a nice long wide grass strip, with lots of open area.

At about three hundred feet I got rolled as we entered a thermal, and not waiting to break the weaklink or get further rolled, I pulled the release on the Quest Air special  small barrel release and got off quickly. The edge of the thermal was sharp and I was falling fast, but it was no problem to get it back into the wind and near enough to the cart for a second try.

The second time I didn't hit a thermal until I was at about 1,000' AGL (ground is about 500') and I released immediately to find 100 fpm. Plenty enough to survive. After I gained 500' I lost the thermal and had to make a semi-low save at 500' AGL over the runway back to 3,500' AGL.

The air was nasty. Turns out that all the pilots (other than perhaps Scott) thought so. I get being knocked around by the air and not having as much control of the glider as I would have appreciated. Adam Parer tried to fly back to Newcastle but quit after 30 km because the air was too rough.

The Airborne C4-13.5 feels about as big as the Moyes Litespeed RS 4, the glider I'm flying in the competitions. Which to me means that it feels a little bit bigger than I would like, at least in the air I was flying in. I'll perhaps have another chance to fly it on Sunday.

The air was turbulent and the glider would want to do the flying for me at times. I have found that I'm a lot more comfortable in the air in a competition than when I am free flying, so that is part of the equation when I'm gauging my feelings and their relationship to reality.

I also revert to cross controlling if I don't consciously remember that I'm flying a flex wing. I forget to concentrate on moving my butt around. This means I put too much stress on my shoulder muscles, when all I have to do is just swing my butt to the side I want to turn toward.

In general the C4-13.5 felt a lot like the Litespeed RS 4. The control frame is a lot bigger which I noticed once again on the ground, but not in the air. I was hanging at the right height, just above the control bar. The glider also was a bit more in control on landing (rather than the pilot) than was the case with the Fun 190, for example. This, of course, is also true for the Litespeed RS 4. It sure would be great if you could get high performance gliders to land like single surface gliders.

The glider was easy to set up on its stinger and the VG seemed easy to pull. I didn't have a chance to give it a full test yet, not like I did with the Litespeed in competition.

On Saturday I measured the wind at 40 kmh gusting to 50 kmh out of the northwest so no one was flying. Rolf went down to the nearby sailplane port to get a flight and none of the tug pilots were willing to tow any sailplanes up, it was that bad. There was plenty of wave action happening from the nearby hills.

The Upper Hunter valley is made up of many very small valleys that are broken up by small ridge lines. You can easily jump from one valley to another and follow various ridge lines in all sorts of different directions. There are numerous foot launch sites sprinkled throughout the Hunter, which cuts down a bit on the interest in towing at Pete's place, otherwise it would be crowded on every weekend. Right now it is hard to get pilots to come out and fly there.

Around 4:30 PM on Saturday the winds began to die down a little, but you could see the sea breeze coming in from the south east (cu's and hazy air). About 5:45 PM the winds died to zero for a minute, then turned 180 degrees and within five minutes the wind was 33 kmh gusting to 43 kmh in the opposite direction. We went to dinner.

BTW, dinner at the pub in Denman is equivalent to the best restaurants in Melbourne or Newcastle (which has a block of really nice restaurants). Denman has a population of 1,500, and a main street one block long. It is the base of tourist for the Upper Hunter Valley wineries. Denman's business district, such as it is, looks like all it has received in the last fifty years is a coat of paint. But it is completely charming.

The Newcastle hang gliding club forum: http://williamolive.com/phpbb/index.php. It should have the stories from the weekend.

On Sunday the forecast was for light winds, but I was the first one up and found 14 mph out of the west. This stopped the task that had been called and sent me on my way toward Newcastle. Of course, I pinned off early, which we Americans have a knack for doing apparently and had to perform two low saves (one at 270'), just to give the folks at Pete's a thrill.

Then it was off to the races downwind down the Hunter Valley. The sky was blue because the inversion was at about 5,000'. Scott Barrett launched, found the rough air over the hill sides, and decided to land at Pete's, but found nice lift in the middle of the valley and went with it.



Click on photo for higher resolution. Scott Barrett launching. Photo by Belinda Boulter.

I was able to get 45 km to the sailplane port after finding 1,100 fpm down over the coal fields. The sailplane pilots were very friendly. They were complaining about the air, the big sink, and how rough it was. One of them in a Duo Discus had checked out Scott at Pete's.

Scott made it back to his house at Belmont on the coast south of Newcastle. A few other pilots, including Jonny Durand made it from Brokenback mountain to the park near the Scenic launch (see the Oz Report world wide site guide).

The Airborne C4-13.5 was better behaved in the less turbulent air. Still a bit of a handful, but reasonable. I was better at moving my bum, instead of yanking around the control bar. It was a handful landing in the rough conditions at the sailplane port.

I liked the glider over all. It was a lot less of a hand full that the C2-14 which I flew two years ago. At 180 pounds I'm at the high end of the recommended weight for the 13.5 and way over the hook-in weight for the 13 ( http://www.airborne.com.au/pages/hg_c4_specs.html).

The VG did seem easier than the Litespeed's VG, but that one I had to take on and off a hundred times a day during competition, and I only used the VG on the C4-13.5 over a less than two hour period. Of course, the C4 uses a VG cam system instead of pulling back the cross bar (http://www.airborne.com.au/pages/hg_c2.html).

Discuss Hunter at the Oz Report forum

Wrights

As told by a bee keeper

(Wright Brothers Memorial, Nags Head, NC, USA)

William "Billo" Olive|Wright Brothers

Billo «william.olive» writes:

I found this article very interesting. It is pertinent to all pilots, but in particular it might resonate with anyone who learnt to fly a hang glider on the sand dunes.

http://www.williamolive.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=344

Discuss "Wright Brothers" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Gulgong

Finals

(Gulgong, NSW, Australia)

Airborne Gulgong Classic 2006|Attila Bertok|Gerolf Heinrichs|William "Billo" Olive

Task 6

Overall

Attila beats Jonnie by four lousy points. Gerolf comes back after falling down. Airborne puts two pilots in the top ten.

Billo «william.olive» writes:

Click on photo

This is the new Airborne XT582 Outback tug plane. The tug pilot is Matt Olive, the HG pilot is Al Daniels. The XT582 Outback and its big brother, the XT912 Outback were both at Gulgong this year. These tugs are certified. Notice the fat tires. See more at: http://www.airborne.com.au/pages/ml_outback.html.

Discuss "Airborne Gulgong Classic 2006 results" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

NSW

Monica is in charge.

(Manila)

Monica Barrett|William "Billo" Olive

I have run the NSW comp for the past 12 years, and it's time for a change. Monica Barrett will be the organiser for this year's comp, binging a much needed fresh perspective to the event.

william olive «william.olive» writes:

http://www.nswhgstatetitles.com

Next year the PG worlds will be held late February so once again the HG comp will be held slightly early, starting on the 4^th of February 2007 and running to the 10^th of February.

The website is now up and running for on-line payments. I have asked Tim Cummings to add the comp to the HGFA hope the on-line registration system and I hope it will be up and running soon.

Discuss NSW at the Oz Report forum

Skyline and Moyes

I have both harnesses

Dustin Martin|Jon "Jonny" Durand jnr|Jon Durand jnr|Kenny Brown|Kurt Warren|Oliver "Olli" Barthelmes|William "Billo" Olive

Alberto Lanzarote «albertomt» sends this picture of his new Skyline ZD FR harness which he characterizes as very comfortable and very professional:

William Olive «William.Olive» writes:

Have always wanted a Skyline harness, and when Alisdair offered me his, with a metamorphosi chute, I jumped at it. While Alsidair was checking the harness, which has less than 20 hours use, he noticed that both shoulder strap webbings had worn through at the buckles.

Al Daniels, Rick Duncan and Matt Olive all checked their Skyline harnesses and Al's and Rick's were worn, Al's almost right through. Matt's was fine, the buckle had a plastic protector and the webbing was intact.

If you own a Skyline harness it might be in your interest to have a look at the shoulder harness webbing. It is under the neoprene gap cover so you won't see it ordinarily. I still intend to buy the Skyline harness.

I checked my Skyline harness and found no wear what-so-ever.

Oliver Barthelmes «olli» writes:

We are really sorry, to hear that there are still harnesses with worn out shoulder straps out there. After we found out there was a problem we immediately released a safety warning to all pilots with a Skyline ZDR. It seems that not everybody received the information, specially people buying harnesses second hand. Affected are just harnesses built in 2002.

We solved the problem by shortening the back plate and moving the buckle forward and covered the back plates sharp edges with a special webbing. After those changes the problem has not occurred any more. However, we would like to ask pilots with the same problem or difficulties any other kind of, to contact us immediately so we can arrange repair or substitution.

In the interest of full disclosure I need to say that I traded advertising space in the Oz Report for my Skyline ZDR harness (http://www.skyline-flightgear.de/english/hangglider/produkte_uebersicht.htm). I also have a fully setup (previously owned by Dustin Martin and Kurt Warren) Moyes Matrix harness (http://www.moyes.com.au/productdetail.asp?ID=47&Cat=Harnesses) , which I also traded for ad space with Kenny Brown (see earlier articles on that harness in the Oz Report). I currently fly with the Skyline harness because lately I have had trouble zipping up my Matrix and have trouble getting it to rotate as easily as I would like (Jonny Durand worked on it for me at one point, but it is still not quite right). I hope to take my harness to Moyes in January to get these issues addressed with me in the harness.

I put the Styrofoam boot that Dustin Martin made for his (my) Moyes Matrix harness in the Skyline harness as the one that comes with it is too soft (in my humble opinion). I'm not sure this is the right way to go as my feet get sore after a while pushing on this Styrofoam boot (this is not the case when I use it in my Matrix harness). I try to remember to relax my legs, which definitely helps.

I have covered the boot ends of both harnesses with Shoe Goo. The boot end of the Skyline ZDR is soft leather, which I don't understand. The boot end of the Matrix has a sacrificial cover Velcroed on. I used that for a while that just spread Shoe Goo over the boot itself. I'm thinking even more Shoe Goo.

Both harnesses have integral zippers, no Velcroed in zippers. This is to allow the harnesses to be quite tight (which I like). But if the zipper blows, you have to find someone to fix it. Which is one reason that I have two harnesses.

Both have carbon fiber back plates. The end piece of the Matrix back plate is hinged, and the ZDR end piece slides over the forward piece. These designs allow you to get upright on landing. Both work well.

I've noticed recently that a little food grade silicon spray help the slider on the ZDR.

The ZDR uses a kick butt plate to change the angle of the dangle. It works fine for me. The Matrix uses a cleat that is released when you arch your shoulders. This is the mechanism that I will get checked at Moyes.

Both harnesses are quite comfortable (after making proper adjustments for the shoulder straps) and I have had a 10 hour flight in the Moyes Matrix and 7.5 hour flight in the Skyline ZDR.

Morning Glory

Surfing the wave in Oz.

photo|video|William "Billo" Olive

After last year’s trip Splint gathered all the photos and video footage we had taken to make a DVD. He has got as far as making a trailer disc. He’s pretty busy with work and domestic stuff at the moment so we might not see the final cut for a while yet. I have ripped a coupe of sections out of the trailer disc. For some idea of what the journey will offer have a look at this clip.

Billo, william olive, «william.olive» writes:

It’s day two of the Southern Hemisphere’s spring, and spring heralds the Morning Glory season. Frankly, if you haven’t got your plans finalized by now then you’re almost too late for this year.

http://www.williamolive.com/videos/morning-glory-get-offa-my-cloud-l.wmv

Sure it’s a long way to go, costs a bomb and it’s a logistic nightmare. And, like all wave surfing, there are no guarantees that you’ll even get a wave. But, if you make the effort and the gods smile on you, the rewards can be great. Check out the smiles on these faces.

http://www.williamolive.com/videos/morning-glory-whats-the-strory.wmv

Discuss Morning Glory at the Oz Report forum