Wills Wing
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Oz Report

topic: news

108 articles, page:  1 

Russia, Belarus and FAI/CIVL

Fri, Jun 17 2022, 6:16:34 pm MDT

Nepal and Bahrain also

calendar|CIVL|FAI|news

https://www.fai.org/news/russia-and-belarus-cat-2-events

The CIVL President apologies for the imprecise writing of the last post. Please disregard it. Here is a more precise one.

CIVL received requests for clarification from Second Category event organisers in regard to the participation of pilots holding FAI Sporting Licences issued by Russia and Belarus.

On February 28, 2022, the FAI Executive Board suspended the NACs of Russia and Belarus. As a consequence, Russia and Belarus cannot organise FAI events and pilots holding FAI Sporting Licences issues by these two NACs cannot compete in FAI events. This is the case for all suspended NACs (currently also Nepal and Bahrain).

The CIVL asked that these pilots be allowed to fly under the neutral flag of the FAI, but it was refused as the FAI statutes don’t allow it.

FAI international events are under the responsibility of NACs that pledge to follow the FAI rules when joining the FAI. The organisers and NACS, when signing the CIVL application form so their events are published on the FAI calendar with Cat 2 status, also pledge to follow these rules. When organisers accept pilots whose NACs are suspended, they and their NACs can be considered as violating the FAI rules and penalised accordingly.

Organisers should be aware that the situation is closely monitored by many. The CIVL can only encourage organisers to respect the rule strictly.

Discuss "Russia, Belarus and FAI/CIVL" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Tandem Hang Glider Death and Injury

Tue, May 31 2022, 7:04:26 pm MDT

Ed Levin

crash|David Jacob|fatality|injury|news|tandem

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/1-dead-in-Milpitas-hang-gliding-accident-17209180.php

A man died and a woman was seriously injured on Monday in a hang gliding accident at a San Francisco Bay Area Park, officials said.

The incident occurred at about noon at Ed R. Levin County Park in Milpitas when two people were tandem hang gliding and the glider crashed into a hillside, the Milpitas Fire Department said.

The pair took off from the 1750 launch site, the highest launch point at the park, the fire department said in a news release.

The man died on the scene and the woman was air lifted to a trauma center, the fire department said.

Google News search

Discuss "Tandem Hang Glider Death and Injury" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Our most recent 2022 Supporters/Subscribers

Mon, Mar 28 2022, 6:52:38 pm MDT

We so very much appreciate them

Belinda Boulter|donations|news|supporters

https://OzReport.com/supporters.php

Yup, it's getting near the end of the month (Thursday). Donations trickle in until the last minute and then there is a bit of a surge usually, but we'll see. Belinda and I have given out a bunch of money this month, what with civilization being on the brink given the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Our Ukrainian hang glider pilots are asking for help. First time that we've voluntarily funded an army directly.

https://bank.gov.ua/en/news/all/natsionalniy-bank-vidkriv-spetsrahunok-dlya-zboru-koshtiv-na-potrebi-armiyi

Of course, humanitarian aid also:

https://www.rescue.org/topic/ukraine-crisis

Discuss "Our most recent 2022 Supporters/Subscribers" at the Oz Report forum   link»   »

USHPA/RRRG, a scandal?

Thu, Mar 24 2022, 3:10:43 pm MDT

No reports

Facebook|news|RRRG|USHPA

A few issues back we reported on what could be seen as a pretty serious USHPA/RRRG scandal. Since then, not a word about what is going on. Perhaps the articles that we posted are the whole story and there is nothing more to say. Perhaps people are holding back on additional information. If you'd like to have us post additional news, be sure to send it in.

https://OzReport.com/26.034#2

https://OzReport.com/26.036#4

https://OzReport.com/26.037#2

https://OzReport.com/26.037#3

While we always appreciate a good scandal, we are not a scandal sheet, and much more likely to publish the "good news" about hang gliding (both here and on Facebook). It's just that sometimes things happen that are seriously screwed up and it's good to know that also.

Discuss "USHPA/RRRG, a scandal?" at the Oz Report forum   link»   »

CIVL tries to get around suspension

Wed, Mar 16 2022, 7:05:09 am MDT

Of Russia and Belarus

CIVL|FAI|news|war

https://www.fai.org/news/russia-belarus-and-sporting-licences?type=node&id=24473

On February 28, the FAI Executive Board suspended the NACs from Russia and Belarus and remove their rights to organise or participate in competitions. The CIVL Bureau asked the FAI Secretary-General to issues FAI Sporting Licences to individuals for these two nations if they requested it, so they could participate in events under the FAI flag. Our demand has been refused as the Sporting Code General Section (3.1.3.5) specifies that the right to issue Sporting Licence shall not be exercised if a NAC is under suspension.

Discuss "CIVL tries to get around suspension" at the Oz Report forum   link»   »

You are not being sold (at least not here)

Fri, Mar 4 2022, 10:29:49 am MST

Facebook is free to use

Facebook|news|Oz Report

Those of us who use Facebook realize that our profiles are being sold to advertisers. We are the product. In exchange we get to use the Facebook services.

Unlike Facebook, we do not collect your profile and we don't share or sell your email address. The only information that we have about you is your name, your email address, and the list of contributors. Nothing is shared with anyone.

The Oz Report has a Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/ozreport. This is done for two reasons. One as a service to Oz Report readers who use Facebook. Second, because there are numerous Facebook posts from hang glider (and paraglider) pilots that can be collected and shared with Oz Report readers on Facebook.

In the dark distant past I would receive lots of email and messages about hang gliding news. Now almost all of that comes via Facebook. I'm more than happy to take the Facebook posts that are the most relevant and report them here, but it is much easier just to link to them on Facebook. So I will not report everything I see on Facebook here.

Discuss "You are not being sold (at least not here)" at the Oz Report forum   link»   »

FAI Suspends Russia and Belarus

Mon, Feb 28 2022, 8:21:30 am MST

Because of the Russian invasion Ukrainian pilots are not able to compete

FAI|news

https://www.fai.org/news/fai-position-conflict-taking-place-ukraine-0?type=node&id=24473

In regard to the conflict taking place with Ukraine, the FAI has decided to suspend the FAI members of Russia and Belarus with immediate effect and therefore remove all rights as listed in FAI Statutes 2.4.2.1.

Discuss "FAI Suspends Russia and Belarus" at the Oz Report forum   link»   »

2022 Swift World

Fri, Jan 7 2022, 11:06:11 am MST

France

CIVL|competition|FAI|news|Swift|Worlds

CIVL Bureau decided to award the 21st FAI World Hang gliding Class 2 Championship to France. The exemption as per CIVL internal regulations was motivated by the fact that the competition will be organized by ADPUL at the same place and the same team that worked at the previous HG Class 2 Worlds in Aspres sur Buech.

Discuss "2022 Swift World" at the Oz Report forum   link»   »

Local Groveland News

Mon, Nov 22 2021, 6:21:10 pm MST

Florida|news|Wilotree Park

Wilotree Park is on the south edge of Groveland

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/22/us/groveland-four-exonerated-florida.html

Four Black Men Wrongly Charged With Rape Are Exonerated 72 Years Later

The men, known as the Groveland Four, were cleared on Monday after a Florida prosecutor said “a complete breakdown of the criminal justice system” led to the charges in 1949.

Four Black men wrongly charged with raping a white woman more than 70 years ago in Florida were exonerated on Monday, bringing an end to a saga that has shadowed their families for decades.

The accused — Charles Greenlee, Walter Irvin, Samuel Shepherd and Ernest Thomas, known as the Groveland Four — died before Florida officials re-examined the case, which a prosecutor said lacked due process and would not be tried today.

It all began on July 16, 1949, when a 17-year-old white woman and her estranged husband told the police that after their car broke down in Lake County, Fla., the four men had stopped to provide help, then took the woman from the car and raped her.

The accusation left a trail of destruction. Mr. Thomas was killed by a mob after fleeing Lake County. Mr. Irvin and Mr. Shepherd, both of whom were World War II veterans, were shot by Willis McCall, the Lake County Sheriff, while they were being taken to a pretrial hearing before their cases were retried in 1951. The sheriff claimed that the men, who were in handcuffs, had tried to escape.

Discuss "Local Groveland News" at the Oz Report forum   link»   »

Air Ambulance Bills

Tue, Dec 22 2020, 9:16:05 pm EST

Throttle these guys down

news

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/20/upshot/surprise-medical-bills-congress-ban.html

The new law will bar air ambulances from giving patients surprise bills. These bills are infrequent but, when they do happen, tend to be very large. This summer, a Pennsylvania coronavirus patient received a surprise air ambulance bill that was over $52,000 for a flight between two hospitals that happened while she was unconscious. States that ban surprise bills have been prevented from tackling these cases because federal law bars them from regulating air transit fees.

Lennox Head incident

Mon, Nov 4 2019, 7:46:52 am PST

Failure to hook in

fatality|injury|news|tandem

https://7news.com.au/news/disaster-and-emergency/paramedics-devastated-as-lennox-head-hang-glider-crash-leaves-instructor-dead-and-tourist-seriously-injured-c-531150

From the Oz Report forum:

Tandem pilot didn't clip himself in, but did clip passenger in. Pilot fell to his death. Passenger did his best but crashed back into rocks pretty bad.

Discuss "Lennox Head incident" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Dog Mountain Rescue

April 9, 2019, 7:44:52 EDT

Dog Mountain Rescue

Pilot didn't know where he was

news|Tina Jorgensen

http://www.chronline.com/crime/wayward-hang-glider-rescued-by-army-helicopter-after-landing-on/article_32a21698-5663-11e9-bc2c-b3e57615781b.html

A hang glider who was forced to land on the far side of Riffe Lake Friday was rescued by helicopter in the early hours of Saturday morning after being unable to find his way back through the forest.

“Unfortunately, it was just a series of totally avoidable errors,” said Tina Jorgensen, a veteran of the Dog Mountain hang-gliding hotspot above the lake.

Jorgensen and others were at the site Friday when rain prompted a pair of pilots to land. A third pilot who had been seen in the air couldn’t be found, and the other two said the believed he’d flown across the lake to Elk Mountain. The flight from Dog Mountain to Elk Mountain is a common one for hang gliders, and usually a return trip is made without landing.

On Friday, however, clouds began to to build up behind Dog Mountain, making the journey inadvisable. The west wind became an east wind.

“He had to fly upwind back to Dog,” Jorgensen said. “He wasn't high enough and didn’t have experience to get back out.”

Hang glider death in Western Australia

Tue, Feb 26 2019, 7:56:23 am EST

Competition called off after fatality on the practice day

Bevan Tayor|fatality|news|Western Australia Championships 2019

Bevan Tayor

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-24/hang-gliding-man-dies-crash-in-western-australia/10844018

Discuss "Hang glider death in Western Australia" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Refugio County Press - Catching Thermals

July 21, 2017, 9:35:17 pm MST -0600

Refugio County Press - Catching Thermals

The locals are impressed

Facebook|Gregg "Kim" Ludwig|news

Gregg Ludwig <<GreggLudwig>> writes:

The Rooke Airport, Refugio, TX staff has been very accommodating in meeting our every need for our week-long hang gliding cross country camp. We fly from a 3,000' x 100' grass runway from the mid-field which allows the tug to land short and taxi up for the next tow. It's been a fun week where tomorrow may offer the best flight conditions for the week.

https://www.facebook.com/refugiocountypress

Nathan Wreyford, Kim Ludwig

Death at Dunnellon

Wed, Feb 3 2016, 1:53:56 pm EST

Not exactly north Florida

fatality|Tomas Banevicius|altitude|crash|death|news|power|tow

Tomas Banevicius

http://nypost.com/2016/02/03/fatal-hang-gliding-crash-in-florida/

The officials say Tomas Banevicius of New York was killed during his third flight of the day. Reports didn’t list his hometown but said he was about 35 feet in the air when the craft fell to the ground nose-first.

http://www.ushanggliding.com/

http://www.news4jax.com/news/hang-glider-dies-during-training-session

Preliminary information indicates Banevicius was flying a hang glider that was assisted by a power tow line system to build altitude.

During take-off, witnesses said his hang glider rotated right and turned down, causing it to crash.

Discuss "Death at Dunnellon" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Best first day of the Red Bull X-Alps

180 km flights

Mon, Jul 6 2015, 7:52:52 am MDT

news|Red Bull X-Alps 2015

http://www.redbullxalps.com/news.html

What an amazing day of racing. The pilots flew fast and together to the Dachstein turnpoint, but then the strategic options opened up. With the positions so close, and the pure energy of the race, the athletes would have been feeling the pressure at every moment.

Local athlete Paul Guschlbauer told us, “I’ve never been that high above the Dachstein before!” It’s a far cry from the 2011 race which saw athletes battle through storms up the via ferrata to summit the turnpoint. From there, it was an epic race north and west.

Gruber, Maurer, Guschlbauer, Mayer and McClurg flew the direct line flawlessly, adapting well to perfect flying conditions and putting the gas pedal down all the way, and timing it perfectly to fly off the Aschau turnpoint.

Mark Gibson dies in trike crash

Sat, Jun 27 2015, 9:17:59 pm MDT

Test flight?

fatality|Mark "Gibbo" Gibson|news|ultralite

http://abc13.com/809739/

A Saturday morning ultralight crash in Northwest Harris County claimed the life of a 52-year old man. DPS identifies the man as Mark Gibson of Magnolia. He crashed into a tree line next to a field at Telge and Self. The tiny three-wheeled one-seat glider fell from the sky just before 11am. We're told Gibson took off from Dan Jones airport, which is just a few miles away.

Je suis Charlie

January 8, 2015, 8:14:07 EST

Je suis Charlie

I am Charlie, I am Spartacus

comic|news|religion

NY Times article here.

Charlie Hebdo Editor Made Provocation His Mission

Stéphane Charbonnier, the editorial director of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, was often pictured with his fist aloft.

Mr. Charbonnier, 47, a cartoonist known professionally as Charb, was among 12 people killed Wednesday when gunmen attacked his newspaper’s offices in Paris. He had been instrumental in a series of defiant campaigns that divided public opinion — some saw them as powerful stands for free speech, and others as needless provocations.

He oversaw the publication of a spoof issue in 2011, advertised as guest edited by the Prophet Muhammad, which led to the paper’s offices being firebombed.

In 2012, Mr. Charbonnier defied the advice of the French government and published crude caricatures of Muhammad, shown naked and in sexual poses. Depictions of the prophet, even if reverent, are forbidden under Islamic law. One of the people killed Wednesday was a police officer assigned to guard the paper’s offices after those episodes.

http://mic.com/articles/107878/these-are-the-satirical-french-cartoons-the-gunmen-didn-t-want-you-to-see

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/heartbreaking-cartoons-from-artists-in-response-to-the-ch#.xr2w4LAee

Displayed in the main stream media

Thu, Sep 4 2014, 9:46:23 pm MDT

They got it from the Oz Report

Adam Parer|fatality|news

Adam Parer

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-01/adamparerjpg/5709874

www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-01/hang-glider-pilot-dies-after-crashing-into-a-house/5709204

Discuss "Displayed in the main stream media" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Hang glider stuck in tree?

May 26, 2014, 7:31:50 EDT

Hang glider stuck in tree?

Use one's eyes

news

http://7online.com/news/man-rescued-from-hang-glider-stuck-in-tree/77767/

All Bachelorette, all the time

Wed, Apr 23 2014, 8:51:49 am EDT

Every news item is the same news item

news|PG

On the Oz Report web page: https://OzReport.com/ we display all the news that Google News grabs that deal with hang gliding and paragliding. Today, for the first time ever, all the news items are the same news item.

Discuss "All Bachelorette, all the time" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

As seen on the Oz Report

Mon, Apr 21 2014, 8:28:27 am EDT

Gathering all the news that fits

crash|news

From our take on the Google News crawler:

Discuss "As seen on the Oz Report" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Flooding in England

February 11, 2014, 8:18:13 PST

Flooding in England

The water goes else where.

news|weather

The NY Times piece here.

Others thought it more likely that climate change was a culprit for the exceptional weather. Julia Slingo, chief scientist of the Met Office, Britain’s national weather service, said all the evidence pointed to a link.

For the 8.2 million people living in London, what was once a somewhat distant news event has certainly become uncomfortably close. Residents briefly got a taste of some of the disruption other areas have been living with for more than a month when the M25, the ring road running around greater London, was flooded on Friday. Three of its four lanes running in one direction were temporarily closed.

The Thames Barrier — one of the world’s strongest flood defense installations, designed to protect London from a surge in the North Sea — was shut on Sunday at high tide and was expected to close again to protect properties along the river.

Cowra News

January 3, 2014, 4:08:05 pm EST

Cowra News

A country boy

news

http://www.cowraguardian.com.au/story/2002004/cowra-pilot-soars-through-the-ranks/?cs=591

Discuss "Cowra News" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Bobbie's plane wins Miami Flugtag

Tue, Sep 24 2013, 6:04:26 am MDT

Zombies rule

Flugtag Miami 2013|news

http://tbo.com/news/breaking-news/zombie-team-from-tampa-wins-miami-flugtag-20130922/

Discuss "Bobbie's plane wins Miami Flugtag" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Dingos and Dingbats

June 18, 2012, 8:49:27 CDT

Dingos and Dingbats

She’s Innocent. We’re Guilty.

news

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/16/opinion/shes-innocent-were-guilty.html?hpw

Why did it take three decades, tens of millions of dollars, a criminal case appealed in Australia’s highest court, a royal commission and four inquests to establish Lindy Chamberlain’s innocence?

Discuss "Dingos and Dingbats" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Lumby Air Races 2012

Mon, Apr 23 2012, 5:34:47 pm EDT

June 7th-10th 2012

beer|competition|fire|flight park|food|GPS|HPAC|insurance|music|news|PayPal|Randy Rauck|scoring|triangle

Online Registration Link here.

«Randy Rauck» writes:

The 7th Lumby Air Races June 7th-10th 2012 promises to be a fun and exciting event. Early Bird Discount before May 15.

The Lumby Air Force hopes you can make it. It's been expanded to four days. For accomplished flyers, this is your opportunity to support our flying event, get current on all the latest flying news and win some great cash prizes and trophies for your superior efforts. For newer flyers the education gathered in these social settings will be priceless.

You will need your HPAC number. You can find it here: http://hpac.ca/pub/?pid=145. If you are an international pilot, you will be able to get temporary membership online at www.hpac.ca or@the event.

The format will be closed circuit triangle racing around the town and area of Lumby BC Canada.

GPS will be used for scoring.

This is an International event and is open to Hang Glider and Paraglider Pilots. Registration 8 AM Thursday June 7th@the Raven Aviation hanger on the Freedom Flight Park. Pilots meetings daily@the hanger 9AM sharp.

Landings will be@the Freedom Flight Park, just 1 mile north of the village of Lumby BC on the Mabel Lake Road. Late starts for pilots who can't make it Thursday morning will be allowed on Friday only. Limit - first 75 paid up Pilots.

HPAC insurance mandatory and available@registration if necessary. Please do your best to renew yours or get it in advance at http://hpac.ca/pub/?pid=96. International pilots only require a $40.00 temp policy available@the same web address. Minimum experience - 20 hours logged airtime and 20 high foot launches.

Expect $2000.00 - $3000.00 in cash prize money and trophies and prizes. Plenty of Extraordinary food for Saturday Eve celebration

Big Fire of Life

Live dance music Saturday Eve after dinner for pilots and friends and support personal. Flyers Music Performances/Jam starting around 10pm Saturday Bring your instruments and rhythm makers Ongoing Lumby Days festivities including concerts, beer gardens, amusement park and fun and games for kids.

Competition, Dinner and Dance - $75.00 before May 1st. - $100.00 after.

Registration available online soon or send a cheque payable to: Lumby Air Force #754 Eastwood Road, Lumby BC Canada, V0E2G7, Send PayPal or interac fees to Oz Report forum   link»  

U.S. ambassador to Australia, Jeffrey Bleich

April 11, 2012, 8:22:38 EDT

U.S. ambassador to Australia, Jeffrey Bleich

Australia has changed over the last twenty years

news

http://www.npr.org/2012/04/07/150182150/u-s-marines-in-australia-whats-the-message

Dingos ate my baby

March 6, 2012, 10:08:32 PST

Dingos ate my baby

This is the Oz Report after all

news

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/06/science/australias-view-of-the-dingo-evolves.html?hpw

Thirty-two years ago, 9-week old Azaria Chamberlain disappeared from a campsite in the Australian outback, and her mother’s claim that a dingo took the child caused a storm of public outrage and disbelief.

The reason the whole story became so well known, of course, was that in reality it has remained unclear whether the dingo did it. And over the ensuing decades, the human drama and the figure of the dingo, Australia’s enigmatic wild dog, have become entangled. Like the wolf in America, the dingo is a symbol that may mean one thing to hunters or sheep ranchers and another to scientists and nature lovers.

Now the Chamberlain case, and dingoes themselves, are back in the spotlight. On Feb. 24, testimony ended in the fourth coroner’s inquest on Azaria’s death, and the office of the Northern Territory coroner, which held the inquest, said a ruling would be handed down within the next two months. This time, the Chamberlain family hopes that the coroner will conclude, once and for all, that a dingo killed Azaria.

Discuss "Dingos ate my baby" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Editorial errors

December 14, 2011, 9:45:27 PST

Editorial errors

My mistakes

news|Oz Report

You might notice that from time to time (perhaps more often) I will mistype something here in the Oz Report or substitute an incorrect word for an another correct word. While I don't like making these errors, I've never worried too much about it as I can also find similar errors in the on line version of the New York Times, and they actually have editors who are different people than the writers (although I don't have any details about how these people are used for the on-line version).

Well, today there was a great example of how the New York Times can really screw up and I thought that I would share it with you. You'll find it in the last paragraph of this article:

An Internet memo referring to United Russia as the “party of crooks and thieves” has become so well-known that it is now commonly seen on T-shirts and bumper stickers here in Moscow.

Bassano - TROFEO MONTEGRAPPA 2011 »

March 2, 2011, 8:24:41 EST

Bassano - TROFEO MONTEGRAPPA 2011

Spring flying at Easter, just before the Rob Kells meet

Bassano del Grappa|news|PG|Rob Kells|Trofeo Montegrappa 2011

Bassano web site here.

News here.

After such a rainy and snowy winter, everybody seems to be strongly waiting for springtime. Spring means Trofeo Montegrappa 2011 the traditional Easter flying event, that this year will boast its 10th edition. The listed FAI 2 competition for paragliding and FAI 1-5 for hang gliding will take place from 21st to 25th April in the beautiful landscape of the Pedemontana Veneta, where the best Italian and foreign pilots will compete. Besides the competition the usual Expo Montegrappa , a 1,000 m2 indoor exhibition, starting from 23rd to 25th April will be carried on in Borso del Grappa behind the Garden Relais and the official landing place that presents the most important and world known companies with their range of items for free flight and new products. Various activities will be organised for non flying visitors as well. For any further information you may send an email to <info>. That’s a unique event and we will be waiting for you to come to enjoy these special days with us.

Discuss "Bassano - TROFEO MONTEGRAPPA 2011" at the Oz Report forum   link»

Helping out

October 15, 2010, 4:15:52 pm MDT

Helping out

We belong  to a bigger community

charity|news|PG

The article.

Money raised to help solve a cattle killing in November 2009 has been handed over to a Ruch rancher who lost three pregnant cows last year in the crime.

Paul Murdoch, a member of the Rogue Valley Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, said the group gave $3,000 to rancher Tim Hunter on Friday after no arrests were made in the case.

Wills Wing towing a space craft

August 3, 2010, 3:59:39 pm GMT+0200

Wills Wing towing anspace craft

They built the tow and release mechanism for testing a space ship on the taxi way

aerotow|Mike Meier|news|photo|Scaled Composites|space|Virgin Galactic

http://www.willswing.com/news.asp?newsSeek=745

Wills Wing was recently contracted with by Scaled Composites to design and manufacture a tow and release system with a high working load for the tow taxi testing of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShip Two.

In response to a few questions from me, Mike Meier replies:

We were towing it forward, in the normal direction, but in the photo posted on the new item, the tow line has already been released, and the spaceship is "coasting." None of the photos that Virgin Galactic posted on the Flickr page actually show the spaceship under tow with the towing vehicle also in the frame, although there are some that show the spaceship under tow. The only difference you can see between under tow and off tow is that the orange cone, which houses the release (to protect the spaceship from damage on snap back) is stretched out horizontal if the spaceship is under tow.

The vehicle at the far right of the photo posted with the news item is a chase vehicle - you can see a second chase vehicle on the far side of the space ship, just visible underneath.

The spaceship is configured with wheels on the main landing gear and a skid on the nose - the smoke in the photo is from the skid.

I'm sure there are others that could have made a suitable device, but there were some technical issues involved in the testing that we have had some experience with - high speed vehicle test operation on a runway, aircraft towing, release system design.

Tow Taxi: A normal part of any aircraft development and testing program is a series of tests known as "taxi tests." Before you attempt to take off or land in new aircraft design, you want to first establish it's handling characteristics on the runway at various speeds. SpaceShip Two is launched from a mother ship, so takeoff isn't a consideration, but it lands as a glider, so handling and braking on the runway are important things to test before the first actual landing.

Packsaddle death

Thu, Jun 24 2010, 8:50:13 am CDT

In Texas near Austin

John Seward

fatality|John Seward|news

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/hill_country/Man-dies-in-hang-gliding-crash

Austin American-Statesman Article

Hang 2 pilot, as of December, 2009.

Discuss "Packsaddle death" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Forbes - it's raining »

Wed, Mar 10 2010, 8:40:21 am EST

BBC and the World report on rain in Forbes

BBC|Christmas|environment|news|podcast|weather

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8544716.stm

Since Christmas, parched areas of New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, have received their best rains in a decade, fuelling hopes the continent's worst drought in a century may finally be easing.

Near Forbes, a farming town 380km (240 miles) west of Sydney, vast tracts of desolate land have turned a splendid shade of green, while dry rivers and creeks have been revived.

"The impact of the rain has been fantastic. It has just really lifted the community and really lifted the environment," said Carissa Bywater, the general manager of the Forbes Shire council.

This oversees a town that has faced the dire prospect of running out of water, while the nearby Lachlan River almost stopped flowing.

The answer to today’s Geo Quiz today is Australia. Something’s happening in parts of the country that hasn’t happened for years. It’s RAINING. Correspondent Phil Mercer reports from the farming town of Forbes that locals hope the worst drought in memory may finally be breaking.

March 9 broadcast of PRI's "The World" - podcast here: http://www.theworld.org/2010/03/09/geo-answer-109/

Open Ocean hang gliding

Thu, Feb 4 2010, 1:28:32 pm MST

Lanzarote

cloud|game|Gerolf Heinrichs|news|Thomas "Tom / Tomas" Weissenberger|track log

Tom Weissenberger writes:

Already after 15 min I get to the end of the ridge. I look for a good thermal to make cloud base and to set my turnpoint as far as possible off shore. From 600 m I make it up to 1.200 m and I top out. Gliding over the sea reminds me of flying at Stanwell Park playing the chicken game with Gerolf: the pilot who turns around first looses. I am very happy that nobody of my Austrian mates is now flying next to me - thank god!

After gliding 2 km over open water I turn around - chicken? With 20 km/h cross wind from the right I head back enjoying this unique perspective view of Lanzarote in front of me! I am now even closer to the little island of La Graciosa about 1 km to my right. I am still 800 m high and easily I could fly there looking for a thermal. But I am not pushing my luck to far! I just have an eye on it if getting short and keep heading back.

The article

The track log

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Is Davis a real reporter?

November 18, 2009, 8:35:58 PST

Is Davis a real reporter?

You don't need a specific education or a license

news

Yes, actually I am. For those who feel otherwise, you are welcome to your feelings.

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17871

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=14384&start=36

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=14437

Airborne REV passes DHV pitch and load tests

Mon, Nov 9 2009, 1:23:22 pm MST

Got to get the manual done.

Airborne REV|news

News here.

Discuss "Airborne REV passes DHV pitch and load tests" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Good Morning America

October 13, 2009, 8:15:55 PDT

Good Morning America

The 2009 US National Hang Gliding Championship on Good Morning America

news|US Nationals 2009

On ABC Channel 7 at 7 AM Sunday morning, October 18th, 2009 in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Crush him

Tue, Sep 1 2009, 4:04:31 pm MDT

And all his parts

bicycle|news

NY Times article

As the high-profile attorney general for Ontario, Michael Bryant championed severe and controversial traffic safety laws. On Tuesday, he was charged with criminal negligence causing death and dangerous driving causing death in an unusually violent episode of road rage involving a bicyclist.

The arrest of Mr. Bryant stemmed from a collision between a bicycle and an automobile in Toronto’s most prestigious shopping district late Monday evening that started off as minor but swiftly escalated, leading to the death of Darcy Allan Sheppard, 33, identified as a bicycle courier.

After the collision, Mr. Sheppard apparently grabbed the driver’s side door and held on. Within moments, the police received reports of a Saab convertible racing past the fashionable shops of Bloor Street with a man clinging to its side. Two construction workers doing repairs along the road told CTV, a Canadian television network, that the car accelerated, its tires squealing, before veering into oncoming traffic on the left side of the street.

But it was as the province’s top justice official that he produced the greatest controversy and acclaim of his 10-year political career. Among his targets were street-racing motorists.

In 2007 he gave police the power to seize and destroy cars modified for racing even if no charges were laid against their owners.

After describing such cars as being as dangerous as explosives, Mr. Bryant said, “We will crush your car, we will crush the parts.”

Discuss "Crush him" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Coverage of Day Four

Wed, May 6 2009, 10:50:25 pm EDT

The local newspaper with a video

Jamie Shelden|Lookout Mountain Flight Park|Moultrie 2009|news|video

http://www.moultrieobserver.com/local/local_story_126181417.html

Hang gliders in action
Adelia Ladson, The Moultrie Observer, May 6 2009 6:14pm


Video on YouTube.

Folks might have seen some strange 'birds' in the sky yesterday. A rally-style hang gliding competition made the Moultrie Municipal Airport one of its stops. With about 30 pilots participating, the group will make several stops over about seven days of flying, until its final destination, Lookout Mountain, Tenn. The pilot who makes it their in the least amount of time is the winner. Several countries, including Russia, Austrailia, U.K., Brazil, Columbia, Ecuador and the United States, are represented in this competition. Instead of the traditional launch off of a mountain, the gliders are towed by an airplane until they get high enough to catch thermals and convective currents. 'They will be sustained by the wind and the sun for 75 miles to Americus,' said Jamie Shelden, the event coordinator. If they don't make it and come down, crews are in contact with them during the flight and will pick them up wherever they land.

Airborne Sting 3 - 168 »

Fri, Jan 30 2009, 7:36:36 am AEDT

The bigger version

Airborne Sting 3|Australia|Gerolf Heinrichs|news|release|site

Somehow I missed it that Airborne had released a bigger version of the Sting 3, 168 squares. I then went looking on the Airborne web site to see if there was a press release or any notice of the new glider. Couldn't find it.

Then I began to wonder, was I just clueless. Maybe I just don't remember. But I went back and looked at the Oz Reports archive, and there was nothing about the 168 version.

I had the opportunity to fly the Sting 3 154 last spring while it was being developed and had a great time with it. I had heard that there might be a be a bigger version later, but I was surprised to see it on the Airborne web site after being clued into the fact that one existed.

I made a stop over at the Airborne factory earlier Thursday morning when I took my car into get a new water pump at the garage next door. I spoke with Rob Hibbard and all the Duncan brothers. I told Rob that he had to be sure to get the word out to me and to other hang gliding news outlets (are there any other?) about whatever developments were coming out of Airborne. That their promotion was just too sketchy.

I was at the Moyes factory on Tuesday and said the same thing (and Gerolf more than agrees). I also heard a rumor, maybe I heard this wrong, but that Gerolf is going to develop a new Moyes intermediate glider. I guess to replace the Sonic and/or XT. Maybe we'll hear more about that later.

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Having trouble landing your hang glider? Don't try this.

December 11, 2007, 6:40:13 GMT+1100

Landing

Without a parachute, with a wing suit

news|Roy Haggard|technique

NY Times article

Roy Haggard offers to help.

Flying fast and flying low

Thu, Aug 2 2007, 10:26:18 pm EDT

Flying

A few other ways to go flying

news|news|Red Bull

http://www.abcnews.go.com/WN/story?id=3428996&page=1

http://www.redbull.com/#page=LandingPage.1178798271760-686536964

http://www.redbullxalps.com/index.aspx

http://www.redbullairrace.com/

http://www.kitewing.com/wavewarrior/index.html

Thanks to Bill.

Discuss "Flying fast and flying low" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Go Fly a Kite

Mon, Feb 26 2007, 4:31:03 pm PST

Kites

Hang gliding is a safer sport

news|death

These are our partners in the fight against terrorism.

Story here.

An annual kite festival Sunday in eastern Pakistan has left at least 11 people dead.

Officials said two died after their throats were cut by metal kite strings. Kite flyers often use string made of wire or coated with ground glass to try to cut the strings of rivals or damage other kites.

The festival is also often marked with celebratory gunshots fired into the air. Five people died after being hit by stray bullets.

Two people were electrocuted when they tried to untangle kites from overhead power cables.

Two others fell from roofs. One was a boy chasing a stray kite. Another was a woman trying to stop her son from going after a kite.

Discuss "Go Fly a Kite" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Flapping your arms can be flying

November 20, 2006, 9:24:01 PST

Flapping

Get 'em started when they are young

game|news

Each game has three challenge levels. A hang-gliding game lets children use their arms as wings as they fly through a sky full of obstacles

NY Times article.

To start a game, a child must stand about five feet from the screen and wave at one of six floating bubbles. The camera spies the motion and the game is loaded.

Hang Gliding at Cypress Gardens

Sat, Aug 26 2006, 11:00:54 pm MDT

Cypress Gardens

Spot landing on the beach

news|Jeff O'Brien|video

The news video. Thanks to Jeff O'Brien.

Discuss "Hang Gliding at Cypress Gardens" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Zapata Journal - Thursday

July 21, 2006, 10:10:45 pm CDT

Zapata

Pete and I follow Manfred's path up the Rio Grande toward Del Rio.

Belinda Boulter|Dr. John "Jack" Glendening|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Manfred Ruhmer|news|Pete Lehmann|photo|record

This report is a little late as we got home late on Thursday night.

On Wednesday evening I spent hours pouring over the forecasts for Thursday and looking over the satellite photos for Wednesday to see how the cu's developed along the proposed course line. The wind forecast was still for east winds at about 10 mph, not something that is appreciate here when it comes to setting distance records.


This is Dr. Jack's RUC graph of the average of all the winds from the ground up to the top of the lift for Thursday at 1 PM. Zapata is in the lower middle. You can follow the US/Mexico border (a white line). 

First off, the winds were coming from the wrong direction (the west) making it difficult to get around Laredo early in the morning when the lift is light. Second, the winds were too light to make for record times. Still given a somewhat similar forecast that Manfred had when he made his record run, I figured it was worth taking a chance.

Then, there were lots of subtle clues in the forecast. The local NWS forecast called for mostly cloudy all day while the graphic accompanying this forecast on the NWS web site was full sun. It indicated that one of the models was aware of a lot of moist coming inland from the Gulf. It had been blue on Wednesday in the morning, but there were great thick cumulus clouds in the afternoon, so it appeared to me that chance of clouds was quite good for Thursday.

In addition, there was the fact that the winds below the inversion would not be out of the east. The winds at the lowest level were predicted to be southeast and were forecast to rotate to the south west before going to zero at the inversion. Since I would be flying at the lower altitudes early in the morning trying to get around the Laredo airspace, these winds would help, not hurt.


This is the Thursday 10 AM winds forecast for Zapata.

I figured that when the east winds kicked in in the afternoon, it would still be possible to around Del Rio and his air force base and head west along highway 90. Manfred was able to head northwest from Del Rio as the winds rotated further (as predicted) from the south the further north he went. It was clear from this forecast that this would not be happening on Thursday and that we needed to head west. I set up a bunch of new waypoints along 90 and interstate 10 to help provide some guidance all the way to El Paso.

The lift was forecasted to be strong on Thursday pretty much as it has been every day here in Texas:

It looked like it would be a good idea to keep away from the coasts.

There was a problem though. The chance of over development:

The overdevelopment was forecasted (the red area) just to our northwest as hope to scoot around the top of the top of the hump just north of Del Rio (follow the white line). Of course, this forecast was for 1 PM and the area of forecasted overdevelopment could easily increase. But I neglected to look at that.

 Later in the afternoon the forecasted east winds would take over. These are the 4 PM wind forecasts for Zapata (I would be a long way for Zapata by then) and Fort Stockton (it would be great to be there by then):

 

Notice that in Zapata, the winds are actually predicted to go a little north of east.

One forecast that was hopeful was the late afternoon forecast for the location of the high pressure. We want it a few hundred miles due south of New Orleans. Hera's the Thursday evening forecast:

Lower would have been better (making for more southerly winds), but I was looking for any sign that would help out our quest.

I had made the decision to go whether or not the over running showed up in the morning in Zapata. I would just start later (say 10 or 10:30) if I had no help from little cu's spotting thermals .

On Thursday morning I got up at 7 AM and again poured over the latest forecasts and got ready to go out to the airport at 8:30 AM. At 8 AM the over running showed up for the first time in over a week. It was thick and furious out of the southeast. This livened things up greatly and I got Pete Lehman to scrap his plans for another triangle attempt (the east winds would be too strong anyway) and head out with me.

A review of the FSL t-skew chart indicated that the there was not an inversion that would dry out the early morning cu's as the day heated up. It looked like we would have clouds with us all day. As I placed my glider next to the runway Charlie, the airport manager, mentioned how he was missing the over runnings that completely filled the skies and that this one looked a little weak. I assured him that there was no need to worry. This was the real deal.

Now it is extremely important that the pilot have the right attitude to handle the circumstance here in Zapata. You are about to start on a quest that is way too long and difficult and you'll spend a lot of time in the air just getting yourself in a position to be able to break a record. You've got a lot of decisions ahead of you and you want to be in the proer frame of mind so that the decisions are made correctly.

In the morning the attitude is any lift is good lift. No need to hurray, let the winds blow you down the course. Just hang in the air, fly efficiently, take no chances, and wait patiently for reality to change for you. You can't set a record if you are on the ground. Don't worry about going slow, you will speed up later. Stay east and give yourself room to get around Laredo. Cross cloud streets only when you are at cloud base and have a intermediate cloud along the way. Stop and climb in every bit of lift to cloud base. At your highest you will be 2,100' over the ground and 100 fpm is a strong climb rate.

Armand was the tug pilot and came down with a report of clouds at 1,500' AGL and lift in every third cloud. The clouds looked higher than that to me and I thought every cloud was a sign of lift. I looked at Armand and then at the sky and said let's go.

I was off the ground at 9:30 AM. Armand pulled me due east as I noticed that there was indeed lift in the air, even above the clouds when things smooth out. He dropped me off at 1 KM AGL and I headed due north in between the clouds getting a 80 fpm sink rate, so it was looking good to me.

The south south east winds (150 degrees) at 10 to 12 mph were there also and that was nice to see. They would make it easy to get around Laredo and still stay under the cloud streets that had formed. The lift was averaging less than 100 fpm, but was consistent and under every cloud. Even with the tail wind, the weak lift meant that it was slow going, only 23 mph for the first hour. I was gliding at 27 to 1.

At 11 o'clock, like clockwork, the lift turned on and I saw 600 fpm on the averager. For the next three hours the lift would average 300 fpm. Still I was only able to average 25 mph as the wind turned east from 150 to 115 degrees.

Around noon the air started to get rough and the thermals broken. I was headed out west of highway 83 over open territory with only a few public gravel cross roads to provide access to the main highways. I was making sure that I didn't go down.

I was holding on hard as I hit one rough patch after another. This was rougher than any other air I had ever experienced here in south Texas. I come here to fly in the friendly air and now I wasn't having any fun at all. I couldn't land as I was too far away from any access to a public road. I just held on and looked for smooth thermals leaving the stronger broken lift.

After getting low thirteen miles south of Carrizo Springs I started to find strong smooth lift. For the next hour and a half as I continued toward Del Rio the lift averaged 500 fpm, and I found some sweet cores at 1000 fpm to cloud base at 7,300'. It was so great to be in  these solid cores no matter how strong.

I was trying to figure out why it was so rough. I assumed it was because the winds were not stacked. That the lower winds were in one direction and the upper winds in another and that the mixing due to the thermals mixed up winds in all directions.

In addition to the nice smooth strong cores, I was finding even strong broken lift tossing me about in various and random directions. Also I kept hitting incredible sink, sustained 800 fpm down, where I just had to bury the bar even as I put on the flaps to keep the pitch pressure up. This was not Zapata as I've known it.

Pete Lehmann had launched about half a hour behind me, wanting not to charge out into the are south of Laredo until he heard I was finding bits of 200 fpm. He was following my line in between highway 83 and the river road.

My flight on the HOLC and Google Maps/Earth

Pete's flight on Google Map/Earth

Pete was getting tossed around like I was and he wasn't liking it any more than I was. Later he said that on Wednesday he had had the scariest day flying in Zapata that he had ever day. Then Thursday came along to top that.

Pete decided to head toward Carrizo as I headed toward Del Rio after I got west of Carrizo Springs. I was able to average 33 mph after I got in the good lift for the next hour and a half, but by now the wind had turned full east even a little bit east north east (80 degrees). Any help that we got from the wind as a partial tail wind was now gone.

For the last few hours I was watching the horizon and noticing a long thick bank of clouds above the tops of the cumulus clouds that I was flying in (and therefore above the inversion). It sure looked like trouble. My only hope was that I could skirt it around to the northwest and get on my westerly path. As I approached Del Rio airspace this appeared less and less likely and the cloud stretched to the west.

Finally I felt that I had had enough of being tossed around. My Flytec 5030 was showing my track log as I thermaled up drifting to the west south west. Belinda was chasing behind me north of Eagle Pass along highway 277 next to the Rio Grande. I climbed up the cloud base and then straight for the green irrigated fields to the west southwest which I thought were about seven miles way but where actually fifteen miles away.

I tried to stay away from the lift and got horrendous sink once again, but was still able to make it out of the bad country, over a cannel and then into the peaceful air over the fields. I was just hoping that cannel wasn't the Rio Grande. The river itself was actually a few hundred yards to the west of me so I was able to set up a sweet landing in a friendly field in the United States. I had flown approximately 180 miles, but only enjoyed a small part of it.

Pete got up again at Carrizo Spring and decided to land at La Pryor went he got rained on at the edge of the cu nimb to the north that I had seen. He was happy to be on the ground.

This is what the clouds looked like soon after we landed:

It may turn out that if I had looked at the satellite photo early in the morning (perhaps before the sun came up) or maybe late the night before I might have seen the moisture that became this set of clouds. I did look at the satellite photos and all I saw were puffy little cu's. Maybe there was a later one that might have given me a heads up. 

The next morning the moisture was still there as seen on the first satellite photo.

It rained about an inch in Zapata on Thursday.

Zapata Journal - Wednesday

July 19, 2006, 8:36:11 pm CDT

Zapata

Moderate to strong east winds and a sky full of beautiful cu's.

Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Manfred Ruhmer|news|Pete Lehmann|record|video

Manfred drove to Houston after getting a new rental van. Later a TV crew came out to record the story of setting the record. They got Manfred's videos and took a lot of videos of Armand flying his Swift and Pete in his glider. Pete Lehmann towed Armand up so that the TV guys at the Extreme Outdoor channel (local) could get some launching videos.

Pete tried for a 100 km FAI triangle record but went down early. It sure looked like it would a good day for a record try with thick cu's every where. The east wind was a little too strong.

Zapata Journal - Tuesday

July 18, 2006, 7:18:04 CDT

Zapata

Driving at night

Belinda Boulter|Gary Osoba|Manfred Ruhmer|news|record

Manfred and Bo were driving back last night. Bo was driving and hit a deer while going 70 mph. Both airbags deployed and Manfred woke up very quickly. The rental van is undriveable. Bo and Manfred spent the night in Junction, Texas and they are still there this morning. Very lucky not to be dead.

The deer in this area are like Kangaroo in Australia. You just don't drive at night. I remember in 2000 when we (Belinda, Gary Osoba and I) went to get Dave Sharp in San Angelo after he flew 311 miles to set the new record. We had to brake every five miles for deer and we were very careful.

Bo got a ride to San Antonio so that he can catch a flight back to Florida. Manfred is waiting for a replacement vehicle.

Zapata Journal - Monday, Manfred second update

July 17, 2006, 8:54:44 pm CDT

Manfred Update

450 miles to Lovington, NM, just 17 miles north of Hobbs.

Manfred Ruhmer|news|record

He landed fifteen minutes ago. This is the approximate distance. This is the new Class 2 record, beating Robin's 425 mile record set last year, and longer than Manfred's 432 mile flex wing flight in 2001. This was a day without a tail wind and Manfred did it with skill, good lift, cu's and a high cloud base. Very little help from the winds.

Manfred has to leave in two days, so today was probably his last shot. If they don't drive all night, Bo and he won't get back until tomorrow evening. I didn't realize this morning how close he was to leaving, and that he had to go far on this day that really didn't look that good given the wind. He really made the most of his last chance.

It looks to me like Lovington is 480 miles from Zapata.

Zapata Journal - Monday, Manfred Update

July 17, 2006, 7:07:53 pm CDT

Manfred

Manfred was 390 miles, and high at 6:45 PM

Manfred Ruhmer|news|record|Robin Hamilton

Bo can't keep up with him and just talks to him periodically on the cell phone. Manfred keeps getting high (10,000'), the cu's look great up past Odessa. Bo thinks that Manfred has the new Swift record (Robin Hamilton currently has it at 425 miles). Manfred should have another two and a half hours. Bo thinks that he will be flying into New Mexico.

Zapata Journal - Monday, part 2

July 17, 2006, 6:20:11 pm CDT

Zapata, 2

Pete lands short

David Glover|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Manfred Ruhmer|news

Peter Lehmann didn't make it back from his second turnpoint on his 100 km FAI triangle attempt today. At 6:17 PM David Glover was out retrieving him (his swap for the flight lessons) and was two miles from him on the wrong side of a locked gate, off a ranch road 15 miles south of Zapata. Looks like they'll have to walk out two miles. It's 103 degrees here.

No word on Manfred. Bo is out of cell phone range at the moment.

Zapata Journal - Monday

July 17, 2006, 5:41:47 pm CDT

Zapata

An east southeast wind doesn't stop Manfred.

Dr. John "Jack" Glendening|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Manfred Ruhmer|news|Pete Lehmann|record

My WW Falcon 3 flight on Google or HOLC

You might have noticed that there is a heat "wave" over middle America. It's hot up there and keeping the winds light or east, northeast here in south Texas. The winds were forecasted to be east here and sure enough they were between 118 and 132 degrees.

We had great cu's yesterday starting at noon and by mid afternoon filling the skies over the state. It looked like today the sky would similarly be filled (although the RUC model through Dr. Jack are constantly ambiguous about this here, while the NAM model is always calling for cu's).

In spite of the wind forecast Manfred decided to take off at around 10:30 AM. There were a few cu's twenty miles to the south and an occasional wispy cu near the airport. Bo pulled him all the way to the top of our 1 km limit as far to the east as he could go as he climbed.

I spoke with Manfred on the radio and after a long glide he was down to 1,600' MSL (1,200' AGL) and found 150 fpm. He was climbing up through 2,500' when I talked to him just before 11 AM.

I went out trying not to worry about the east wind after setting up my borrowed WW Falcon 3. Bo took me to the right altitude at 11:30 directly to the east. With the wind at 120 degrees and with the need to go downwind with a Falcon, instead of trying to jump cloud streets (there were a few cu's, but certainly no streets), there wasn't much chance I would be able to get around the Laredo airspace 40 miles to the north.

Still I was in the air and having a good time, so I thought I would hang in there and see what happened. It was beautiful out and I had a good view of both the US and Mexico. Since I was heading toward Mexico it was good that I knew where it was (the north/south river shown in the Google Maps and Google Earth views if you click on the link above) is the Rio Grande and it is the border.

Since I started at 11:30 AM instead of 9:30 AM, I find plenty of lift and get high enough to not worry about going down behind locked gates. With the wind I'm pushed toward highway 83 (the road to Laredo) anyway so I'll be safe enough.

The cu's begin to form a bit better and I hear from Manfred that it is fifty miles out after the first hour. Man, he is cooking, especially given the bad wind direction. It's at most 40 degrees south of east. I get fifteen miles out by 12:30, which is essentially the wind speed. I spend half my time circling and the rest of the time going cross wind to try to stay away from Mexico.

Just before 1 PM Manfred is 100 miles out and on a course line of 155 degrees. I'm on the same course line but need 170 degrees to get around Laredo. Manfred it heading up west of our usual route given the strong east component to the winds and headed toward Odessa.

At twenty miles out I find that I am air sick, the first time in a long time. The lift has been smooth, so I don't quite no why I got airsick, but I glide for nine miles up highway 83 and land in a field to its east at about 1:15, for a thirty mile flight, which was quite pleasant except for the air sick part.

I'm thinking that I might have been able to get around the airspace to the east. The lift was good, and I would have to head north northeast which I was doing until I got sick and decided to follow the highway to land.

After we got packed up we heard from Bo, who was chasing Manfred, after hauling him up, that Manfred was moving fast and needed some help getting around the airspace. Later, around 4:45 we got a hold of Bo again, with Manfred almost 300 miles out reminding him of the parameters of the Midland/Odessa airspace (Manfred had these on his Compeo), and that it had a 6,900' ceiling (Manfred was at 10,000').

Manfred was leaving Bo behind (Bo was racing on Interstate 10 to Ozona) and having a hard time getting Manfred on the radio.

Pete Lehmann was going to try for a world record 100 KM FAi triangle again today. More on how Manfred and Pete did later today.

Zapata Journal - Sunday

July 16, 2006, 11:30:30 pm CDT

Zapata

The forecast is for 10 knot northeast winds in the afternoon

David Glover|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Manfred Ruhmer|Martin Henry|news|Pete Lehmann|record

The winds are light (as forecasted) in the morning. Blue until noon with cu's beginning to form to the south. By 1 PM the cu's are overhead and to a north a bit. High cloud base and light winds. Nice cu's forming 100 miles further to the north and up on the Edwards plateau up through the panhandle. Just no wind to get you there.

No one takes off in the morning, other than David Glover who soloed his Cessna 150 after beginning instruction with Pete Lehmann and a ride with the airport manager. Charlie, here.

Armand, Manfred and Pete Lehman took off in the afternoon in a light east wind with cu's ever where that we could see.

This is the satellite photo at 3:25 PM. The east flow is clear in the south and southeast further north. Nice to see all these little cu's throughout the state.

Pete was going to go for the 100 km FAI triangle record that Martin Henry holds (http://records.fai.org/hang_gliding/current.asp?id1=o-1&id2=1), 44.1 km/hr (27.4 mph). 

Pete does the task in a ten mph east wind at 24.5 mph. My rigid wing record is 27.5 mph. The flight.

It was a beautiful afternoon full of great cu's and 7,500' cloud bases.

Zapata Journal - Saturday

July 16, 2006, 2:13:20 pm CDT

Zapata

Armand flies

Armand Acchione|Manfred Ruhmer|news|record|Robin Hamilton|weather|William "Billo" Olive

We've got two Swifts here and if Robin Hamilton comes down from Houston we'll have three. He's up there watching all the weather models ready to pounce if it looks like a record day. With Manfred down here ready to take away Robin's records he's got to be ready to defend them.

Thick mid level clouds for much of the morning and they continue to affect our normal path to the north all day. Armand Acchione took off at 10:30 AM in his Swift and was able to stay near the airport at 2,000' AGL until it turned on around 11 AM, then he could fly any where. With 10 mph southeast wind and no retrieve, he came back and landed later at the airport. No one else flew in the morning.

Armand went up for a late afternoon flight to 7,500' under billowy cu's and a 16 mph southeast wind.

Zapata Journal - Friday

July 14, 2006, 4:58:06 pm CDT

Zapata

The weather models conflict with reality

Dr. John "Jack" Glendening|Manfred Ruhmer|news|weather

The FSL t-skew chart from Zapata forecasted strong east winds, but it was clear that the winds were south east and in a good direction for heading north northwest. The RUC, as interpreted by Dr. Jack, was also calling for east winds.

While there were a few cu's over Mexico, it was mostly blue over Zapata and to the north. That is blue except for the wide bands of cirrus overhead and to the north. It was not an inviting sky.

Manfred decided to give it a try at 10:30 with a few cu's twenty miles to the south. He is able to get good lift to 3,500' and headed north. He later decided to land at Carrizo Springs 115 miles to the north. Bo was chasing him.

The good cu's start forming around 12:30. They are found around the southern part of the state but don't continue up to the north.

Manfred reported in after getting back to the airport in Zapata. Good lift for thirty miles north of Laredo, but no sun on the ground after that. Still lift, but things slowed down. The east wind direction kicked in but the wind lightened up.

Zapata Journal - Thursday

July 13, 2006, 10:21:52 pm CDT

Zapata

The cu comes too late.

Manfred Ruhmer|news

After Manfred's 1000 kilometer day, including flying back in the airplane and driving to get his Swift, we are not all that excited about another blue day. There are a few cu's in the morning and good wind direction, but the day promises to be mostly blue.

Afternoon good clouds develop up for about 200 miles to the hill country, but nothing up on the Edwards plateau. We wait for Friday, with the chance for clouds, but a less favorable wind direction and speed.

Zapata Journal - Wednesday

July 12, 2006, 10:32:39 pm CDT

Zapata

The over running returns at 6 AM and we all go flying.

David Glover|Dragonfly|Gary Osoba|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Manfred Ruhmer|news|Pete Lehmann|Quest Air|record|Russell "Russ" Brown

Flight on the HOLC

On Google Earth and Map

I wake up at 7 AM to see the over running but David Glover was up even earlier to see the cu's forming and whipping by at sunrise. Of course these cu's are not supposed to be there, but there they are, and only here in Zapata, which is why we are here. In fact, the FSL chart shows a strong inversion, making cu's impossible at these temperatures, but there they are below the inversion. I guess the models don't know everything.

It's not that we don't believe the FSL, it's just that we believe are eyes more, at least for now. But it appears to be very likely that the over running does not fore shadow cloud streets given the forecasted inversion and the forecasted dry air above that inversion. We actually expect a blue day with a good (15-20 mph) south southeast wind, a wind which we are already experiencing.

The little cu's are really just a psychological crutch for us to get us going early knowing that we are more likely to stay up long enough to at least make it to the first public road. The same light lift from low should be there in the blue, just a little harder to find perhaps.

I'm the first to get going at 9:40 AM as Russell Brown takes me up behind the Quest Air Dragonfly in smooth air to 1000' over the clouds at 2,300' MSL (we take off from 400'). Russell takes me due east and after I pin off I head north as Russell goes back to get Manfred. We all stated our takeoff time preferences before we started, so there was no conflict over who went when.

I go for a seven mile glide to get back under the clouds at 2,100'. I get under a cu that is about 100 feet wide and twenty feet thick. Most are smaller. The lift is 100 fpm and it sure feels good to have some lift, as I've got another six miles to go to get to the first public road.

There is nothing like circling around in light lift in the morning in Zapata while drifting north northwest at 20 mph. Because the roads below are behind locked gates you want to do anything to stay up, so you hang on in light lift and climb back up to 2,300 at cloud base. The air feels great and you are moving so fast with the least effort. In these conditions I'm really attuned to looking for any lift possible.

The clouds have already thinned out considerably, as we thought they would. I'm finding lift in the blue as I have to as I cross the San Ygnacio road. I'm keeping a close eye out for possible landing areas between the Mesquite trees as I'm not getting that high and making sure that I keep far enough to the east to stay away from the Laredo airspace.

At twenty miles out Manfred comes in a thousand feet below as I hear Pete Lehmann on the radio saying that he hasn't hit anything and will soon be landing. He must have hit something as he made it eleven miles out to the San Ygnacio road. Bo will follow after him landing with out hitting a bump in the blue and requiring a six hour retrieve seven miles from the Zapata airport.

Manfred and I fly together for about six miles and then he heads to the north as I continue downwind to the north northwest. We are way to the east of the airspace so it is no concern getting around Laredo.

The clouds disappeared at twenty five miles out and they were gone around Zapata when Pete and Bo launched. Manfred warned them that the lift was too light for flex wings. I kept them all appraised of my location and climb rates so they had a pretty good idea of what was in store for them.

I get low (800' AGL) just before the second east west road coming out of Laredo, but find a solid 230 fpm to 3,500', the highest I've been since the tow. It makes it easy to take the fourteen mile jump over to Interstate 35. As I approach the interstate I'm back down to 700' having skipped a little patch of light lift (the first time I do this during the flight) at 2,800' (thinking I was plenty high enough to find more lift). This time the lift is only 50 fpm, and then I lose it. I'm too low to continue across a treed area and go to the west and land next to the freeway at 55 miles out.

Manfred a few miles ahead continues on in the blue. We track him on the radio until he's 110 miles out. There is a small bank of cirrus to the north northwest and Manfred, talking on the cell phone to Gary Osoba, decides to go around to the east. This puts him along Interstate 35 instead of along highway 83.

At 140 miles out and thirty five miles southwest of San Antonio airspace he circles a small airport and decides to land. He talks a pilot into flying him back to the Zapata airport. Manfred is on his own without a driver. He gets in his car at Zapata with his Swift Light box on the top of the rental car and heads back to the airport to retrieve his glider.

Not a record day, but a great day in the air or Manfred and me.

Zapata Journal - Tuesday

July 11, 2006, 4:05:21 pm CDT

Zapata

Dry air above and a strong inversion, but still great winds.

Manfred Ruhmer|news|record

The conditions are spectacular here in Zapata. Yesterday the winds at 3,000' at 34 knots. It blew like stink all day. It hasn't been this strong in years. I'm very excited about these conditions and am looking forward to record days.

Today, slightly lighter south southeast winds (wow, the direction is incredible) manifest as winds at the runway from the left. I haven't seen much of this since 2000. Makes it very easy to get around Laredo.

But with no overrunning or cu's, Pete and Bo don't launch until 11 AM. It is really blowing, but they do find thermals and get up. Bo gets off at 1,800', instead of our normal 3,300' AGL.

The inversion is much stronger than yesterday and there is a very dry air mass above 3,500'.

They head down wind fast, but there is a strong inversion at 2,500' and they can't get up above it so early. They decide to land seven miles out near the first public road.

Manfred and I decide not to fly until tomorrow or Thursday. Waiting for a few clouds.

Zapata Journal - Monday

July 10, 2006, 11:53:41 CDT

Zapata

Inverted in the morning.

David Glover|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Manfred Ruhmer|news

Unlike on Sunday with its sky full of clouds from the early morning over running, Monday was blue. Great winds with a south southeast direction and 33 knots at 3,000'. No clouds by noon. We'll wait for tomorrow for hopefully some clouds in the morning.

Peter Lehmann is teaching David Glover to fly his new Cessna 150 and they were out early this morning at the airport. Gives Pete and David a way to keep from going nuts.

Manfred is all set with an external battery for his Compeo, as it didn't seem to last more than eight hours. I've tested my Flytec 5030 and it goes for over 24 hours. I'm got my Colibri, an IGC certified datalogger, tucked up in my sail.

Zapata Journal - Saturday and Sunday

July 9, 2006, 7:45:20 pm CDT

Zapata

The WRE starts

Bo Hagewood|Dragonfly|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Manfred Ruhmer|news|Pete Lehmann|record|Russell "Russ" Brown|weather

We left Junction, Texas, 250 air miles to the north of Zapata on Saturday morning with low cloud streets. They quickly filled in with higher mid level clouds also. It was dry until we get about twenty miles south of Uvalde, 160 air miles from Zapata. It was green beside the road from north of Crystal Springs all the way to Zapata. Where was this drought that the drought monitor told us about http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html. It was awfully green from the recent rains, after the middle of June.

We got set up at the Lakefront Lodge, near the lake, and by 7 PM, the thunderstorm was here with two inches of rain in the next half hour. The rain was blowing sideways and it felt like the edge of the hurricane that we got here last year.

Sunday morning, and the over running started at 8 AM with the thick clouds streeting up by 9:30 AM. The winds were strong out of the southeast all day, and the cu's were thick until around 6 PM. Cloud base was low though, especially in the morning, at only 1,500' MSL (1,100' AGL) at 10:30 AM. Too much water in the ground suppressing the thermals.

The seven day forecast looks good with dry conditions and good winds from the south southeast http://ozreport.com/txweather.php.

We spent Sunday morning setting up a Dragonfly and our gliders. Manfred Ruhmer, Pete Lehmann, Bo Hagewood and I are here to set world records. Bo's first job is to be the tug pilot. I wonder who is going to tow him up. Maybe Russell Brown will stay here for a couple of days.

Monday is looking very good.

Freedom of the press

February 11, 2006, 4:56:59 pm PST

Freedom

Why do I cover this in a hang gliding e-zine/blog?

news

The answer is clearly that freedom of the press is under assault as a value and as a US Constitutional amendment ( http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment01/ - "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.")

It is under assault from many quarters, left, right, and religious. I own a "press," the Oz Report. If I don't stand up for press freedom, who will? Apparently not many MSM outlets in the US. From one that will, http://www.slate.com/id/2135917/?nav=tap3, Michael Kinsley writes:

By contrast, in a spectacular exercise of self-censorship, almost every major newspaper in this country is refraining from publishing the controversial Danish cartoons, even though they are at the center of a major news story that these papers cover at length every day. The Danish paper that originally published the 12 cartoons has apologized and editors in France and Jordan who published some of them have been fired. In tomorrow's paper, you're more likely to see a picture of Anne Frank or Hitler or both in bed with Eleanor Roosevelt, all three of them naked and performing unconventional sex acts, than you are to see a perfectly respectful picture of the Prophet Mohammed. An editorial in the Times on Wednesday said that not publishing the cartoons was "a reasonable choice" since they would offend many people and "are so easy to describe in words." I am looking at a front page photo in today's Times (as I write on Thursday) of Mariah Carey singing into a microphone. Words do it justice, I think.

You'll recall that I have published the twelve "offensive" cartoons on my web site and linked to them in the Oz Report..

Another threat to the freedom of the press comes from the current US administration as per this from the New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/12/politics/12inquire.html:

Federal agents have interviewed officials at several of the country's law enforcement and national security agencies in a rapidly expanding criminal investigation into the circumstances surrounding a New York Times article published in December that disclosed the existence of a highly classified domestic eavesdropping program, according to government officials.

The case is viewed as potentially far reaching because it places on a collision course constitutional principles that each side regards as paramount. For the government, the investigation represents an effort to punish those responsible for a serious security breach and enforce legal sanctions against leaks of classified information at a time of heightened terrorist threats. For news organizations, the inquiry threatens the confidentiality of sources and the ability to report on controversial national security issues free of government interference.

Discuss Freedom at the Oz Report forum

The Outdoor Life (and death)

February 9, 2006, 8:50:53 pm PST

Tworog

A hang glider pilot's life celebrated

news|Rodger Hoyt

Rodger Hoyt «miraclepieco» sends this URL to the story of one:

Here.

Get the news a little earlier

December 20, 2005, 9:18:08 PST

Blog

At the Oz Report blog

news

http://ozreport.com/blog.php

The Oz Report e-zine is published by gathering up the Oz Report articles published to the Oz Report blog in the previous twenty four hours or over the weekend. What time zone, which day on which continent? We are working that out. Right now it is Pacific Standard Time (US).
 

The Oz Report gets sent out at 9 AM Monday through Friday (most of you read it at work apparently). When a competition is on and its hot and heavy, I normally switch to seven days a week, but I may just stick to five days a week with timely updates on the blog.

Discuss Blog at the Oz Report forum

Getting on top of big mountains

December 19, 2005, 10:29:24 PST

Angelo

The Everest Net reports on Angelo

news

http://www.mounteverest.net/news.php?id=1302

Building a Better Boom

Sat, Nov 19 2005, 11:00:05 am GMT

Web 2.0

Oz Report|news

It's here now at the Oz Report. The New York Times Op-ed here.

Discuss on-line at the Oz Report forum

Arlan

Fri, Sep 2 2005, 3:00:00 pm GMT

Two very unnecessary deaths.

Arlan Birkett

accident|altitude|Angelo Mantas|Arlan Birkett|Cloud 9|competition|crash|fatality|Gary Solomon|Guy Denney|Hang Glide Chicago|HG & PG Magazine|Joe Gregor|John Licata|Krzysztof "Krys/Kris" Grzyb|Mike Haas|Nathan Martin|news|Peter Birren|PG|power|sport|tandem|tow|tug|weaklink

Peter Birren «peterb» writes:

It is with a sad and heavy heart that I report Arlan Birkett and a student died Saturday evening, September 3, during a tandem flight at Hang Glide Chicago. Arlan's family in Madison, Wisconsin has been contacted with the news and arrangements will be forthcoming.

From the south end of the NS grass runway, John Licata saw the take off. Arlan was towed to the north, across low power lines and a highway, then appeared to have a major problem with the glider. At a height of about 250 feet, the glider turned 180º and, John says, fluttered to the ground like a wounded bird, tumbling and spinning as opposed to a so-called lawn dart. The impact was in a corn field north of the airport. The student's girl friend was present and was interviewed by the police.

A few possible scenarios and situations can be imagined but they are only speculative. The description, however, seems to point to some sort of a structural failure. More information and suppositions will be available tomorrow when the wreckage is thoroughly inspected.

Arlan and Hang Glide Chicago were just this month featured with a nice 2-page article in Hang Gliding & Paragliding Magazine. Arlan had been an instructor for about 10 years (longer?) And contributed greatly to a sport he loved so much.

Angelo Mantas «Angelomant» writes:

I'm stunned. I'm having a real hard time processing this on a personal level. Last year Mike, then another good friend and former HG pilot was killed last month in a motorcycle accident. Now this.

I have very little info on this. Apparently the glider got off line, then the weak link broke at the tug. This happened around 250', according to the tug pilot, Gary Solomon. Despite the altitude, it sounds like they impacted at a fairly steep angle, although this information is third hand. John Licata witnessed this, but didn't want to talk about it anymore, which is understandable since he also witnessed Mike Haas' crash.

Given the time of day, conditions should have been smooth. There are some thoughts pilots have shared with me, but they are pure speculation so I won't mention them at this time. John and Kris Grzyb are supposed to look over the glider tomorrow.

Arlan was a great guy. He was involved with banking, but walked away from that to start a HG business because that's what he wanted to do. When I got recertified as an instructor last year, instead of seeing me as competition, he thought it would be good to have someone around to do hill training, and gave me an old but airworthy trainer. His efforts gave lots of pilots a great place to fly or just hang out. His quiet demeanor and droll wit will be sorely missed.

Nathan Martin «natdogg1» writes:

Easily the best man I've ever met died today and his student barely older than I (20s). Arlan Birkett and Jeremia died on impact today around roughly 6-6:30 PM. Apparently what can only be described as a freak accident occurred. The glider got out of whack and wasn't corrected soon enough, this progressed into a lockout. At this point no-one is yet sure why, but it is known that the weaklink failed to break (250lb) and as far as we understand the tow rope broke (400+lb test) they were at a high angle of roll and had no time to recover. This all occurred immediately after takeoff and they couldn't of been higher than a few hundred feet.

I had known this man nearly six years of my life and had never witnessed anything less than great respect and kindness to all he knew. Jeremiah was in his 20s I believe and was thought to be a slick pilot by other instructors and was expected to solo. Both will be missed greatly and the holes in our hearts will take some time to mend.

(editor's note: These are very preliminary observations. Guy Denney «guydenney» will be writing up a report and sending it to Joe Gregor and hopefully to the Oz Report. Recent reports indicate that there was apparently no problem with the tandem glider in advance of the lockout. I have asked Guy the following questions:

How heavy was the student? How heavy was Arlan?
How many flights did this student have before this flight?
How long was the tow rope? Was it longer than the regular rope used for towing regular pilots? Was it 300 feet long?
Could the tandem have hit the prop wash? Was the tandem below the tug?
Did Arlan have extra handles on the down tubes to allow him to have extra control (like they do here at Cloud 9)?
What was the strength on the tandem side of the weaklink? Was it stronger than the tug side weaklink?

Arlan used an over/under style harness and the student pilot was on the bottom.


Here is the tandem over/under harness setup at Cloud9.)

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News »

Mon, Feb 14 2005, 10:00:02 am EST

The hang gliding news from the mainstream press

news

The hang gliding news as found in the major on-line newspaper organizations is now rounded up at the Oz Report home web site at https://ozreport.com.

Discuss the news at the Oz Report forum

A media feeding frenzy

Tue, Jan 11 2005, 4:00:01 pm GMT

The Age quotes the Oz Report

hang gliding

news|fatality|Robin Strid|Worlds 2005|Nils Age Henden|Jon Gjerde|Johnny Nilssen|Øyvind Ellefsen|Otto Baste|Chris Fogg

Finding their news wherever they can (and apparently believing anything they find on the internet), the Age quotes the Oz Report on Robin's death. As does Seven News.

Discuss "A media feeding frenzy" at the Oz Report forum   link»  

Ain't nobody hear can right

Tue, Dec 7 2004, 10:00:05 pm GMT

What was that you wrote?

communication|news

As described in the NY Times and confirmed every day in my Inbox.

Discuss communication at the Oz Report forum.

The 9th Annual Masters of Freestyle Hang Gliding Contest

Thu, Apr 22 2004, 7:00:02 pm GMT

Go to San Diego.

Masters of Freestyle 2004

Freestyle

Masters of Freestyle 2004

September 17th-20th 2004

Ladies and Gentlemen fasten your seat belts because…

Aero Events is very pleased to announce that the World Famous, Masters of Freestyle Hang Gliding Contest will once again be held in the skies above Mission Bay Park in San Diego, California!.

As was the case for the last four years, aerobatic hang gliding will trade center stage with the two hundred mile per hour Unlimited Hydro planes during the 39th Annual Thunderboats Regatta.

The contest will once again be the largest publicly attended hang gliding happening when as many as 250,000 people bear witness to the outrageous aerial spectacle during the entire three days of the event.

Four contest rounds are planned with a maximum field of 15 competitors. Aero towing will be used to transport the gliders at the top of the performance space located 2500 feet above the center of beautiful Mission bay between East Vacation and Fiesta Islands.

All pilots that have flown in any of the past Masters Contests are pre-qualified for the 2004 competition. All other pilots that are interested in competing must submit a resume and entry form.

The entry fee is 300. American dollars and includes event passes, aero towing, two catered dinners, a fireworks show, portable toilets, tee shirts and an invisible mountain of fabulous prizes !

Watch the “What’s New” page at www.aeroevents.org for the latest news and information.

«Contact-dinoddd»

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Steroids, not "drugs"

Sat, Feb 14 2004, 2:00:05 am GMT

Let's be clear about what exactly we are talking about. Steroids are performance enhancing substances for some sports.

steroids

drugs|news

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/sports/AP-Athletes-Steroids.html?hp

Can we read carefully what is being said about the use of steroids in sports and how this is not a story about "drugs" and sports? From the NY Times:

"Illegal steroid use calls into question not only the integrity of the athletes who use them, but also the integrity of the sports that those athletes play," Ashcroft said. "Steroids are bad for sports, they're bad for players, they're bad for young people who hold athletes up as role models."

The association of the use of steroids with the general term "drugs" is inappropriate. The use of steroids, which as I vaguely understand have some nasty side effects, is unfair to others participating in muscle group sports. The term "drugs" has so many connotations and meanings that it is almost meaningless.

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Bush Cheney 2004

Sun, Jan 18 2004, 5:00:03 pm GMT

news

Greg Ellis «greg» sends out this URL

Strange what a Google news search will come up with sometimes:
http://www.thespoof.com/news/
spoof.cfm?headline=s2i1683

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Isabel (and the USHGA BOD meeting)

Sat, Sep 20 2003, 5:00:02 am EDT

book|flood|G.W. Meadows|government|news|photo|power|radio|site|travel|TV|USHGA|weather

G. W. Meadows <gw@justfly.com> writes:

We lost all services late Thursday (during the hurricane) except water. Our water if gravity fed by water towers, so it's our only utility that's working at present. For that reason, I was unable to get out a late evening update.

Around 5, the winds switched to south and died back a bit. I think they were probably around 60-70 mph at that point. It's funny how in relative terms, that seemed quite reasonable. We got out into the neighborhood and checked out how our neighbors were doing. There were a few power lines down and some major trees, but all in all everything looked pretty good. Some houses had almost no siding or roofing on them, but structurally, it all looked good.

We drove to the entrance of the harbor. As I had stated in previous update, all the water in the harbor canals had been blown out to the west side of the sound. I know this is hard to fathom for many folks. I'll try to explain it a little.

Basically, we live on the east side of a very large body of water called the Albemarle Sound. It's not a very deep body of water. Probably averaging only around 10 ft. deep. When the wind blows very hard from the east for a long time, it blows the water to the west side of the sound. Of course, this action of moving the water to the west, drains it out of everything on the east side (including the harbor canals).

Here's some links to photos showing where we live: Satellite photo (wide shot) http://www.justfly.com/storm/NC_satellite.jpg Satellite photo (closer) http://www.justfly.com/storm/obnk-a.jpg

So, as we're sitting there looking at the main harbor entrance, (which is about 40 ft. wide and is a channel that separates the harbor basin from the Albemarle Sound), the wind switches just a little more west and the water starts coming back into the harbor. It was an incredible site. The water spilled into the harbor as if it were a river. It was like someone opened a 'flood gate'. We headed back around the harbor to where we lived and was quite amazed that the canals went from dry to 'more than full' in less than an hour and a half.

Aeriel Photo of the Harbor http://www.justfly.com/storm/CollingtonIsland3.jpg

Anyway, the night was fairly uneventful. I had to get up 2 times during the night to check the lines on the boat - once at 1:30 and again at 3 am. Everything rode out the storm well.

Friday morning dawned about as beautiful as any day ever. It's funny it always seems to be beautiful days book-ending the hurricanes. I had the plywood off the windows by 8 am and got on the roof of the house to access the possible damage. Looks like we're going to get by with only siding stripped from the north side of our house and quite a few trees damaged.

Here's a photo of the yard, with all the many small twigs and leaves in it: http://www.justfly.com/storm/yard.jpg

They extended the curfew until noon on Saturday. I think that stinks, but I'm not much for the government trying to protect me from myself. I hopped on my new beach cruiser that I got on tuesday and headed out the back way to look at the beach. I got stopped by 2 cops before I had to come home. But I did get a good photo of the beach road near the Avalon Pier (one of the few piers left now) http://www.justfly.com/storm/beachroad.jpg

It's kind hard to see it in the photo, but the road in the distance is covered with sand and water. Here's a closeup of an inset of the same photo: http://www.justfly.com/storm/beachroadclose.jpg

I had taken a photo of the canal across the street from me last night with the water out. Today, I took a photo from the same spot. You can compare them both here. Pretty cool: http://www.justfly.com/storm/canal.jpg

Anyway, as stated, we got through this fine and most of my friends can realize how cool it is to experience a storm of this magnitude (with proper planning). Tonight, as I write this, we're still using the generator and the cable is out, so we can't even see the cool footage that most other people are seeing from here. The stories on the local radio (which has been all 'call-in'), is really interesting.

I leave you with my favorite photo from the whole experience. It's the photo I took of the TV of the weather channels' forecast for Thursday. Not something you see everyday. http://www.justfly.com/storm/weatherchannel.jpg

Note: I could not get this email out on Friday evening because the phone line was down again. As of now, Saturday morning, our power is back on and I can get occasionally a dial tone on the phone.

News has just come out that the curfew has been lifted and we can go out of the harbor. They will let home owners and workers back on the islands at noon today. Supposedly, it's still quite a mess out there. People on the radio are saying that parts of the beach road is simply gone and there are many problems on the beach road regarding houses and power lines.

I just got back from making the 'rounds'. They lifted the curfew this morning, so I went and checked on a few friends of mine. I also went by the Ramada to see how bad the damage was there. It 'looked' less severe than I had heard on the radio, but it is a 'flat top' building and hard to see if there's any damage to the immediate roof.

Hard to say at this point about the BOD meeting.

Jan and I went out today after the curfew was lifted and toured various areas of the Nags Head to KDH areas. Lots of trees down, but also many, many areas where there was no real damage. Of course, I didn't take any photos of the areas with no damage, so don't let these photos overwhelm you thinking that the entire outer banks looks like this.

My guess is that about 50% of the beach front from Corolla to S. Nags head received significant damage. A reasonable percentage of 'between the highways' also got some serious flooding, but not much structural damage. In situations like this, it's nice to live on the west side of the islands.

Hatteras Island (where Jan works) is another story. Looks like it's cut off from everything else. Sounds like (according to radio reports) that there are at least two new inlets cut into the island down there.

As you look through these photos, it will be easy to think that the area you see where the beach road has been washed away - is the area north of Black Pelican - since that area has been looking questionable for a while. It would surprise you to know that the area you see here is just a couple miles north of the intersection of Colington road and NC 12. It's a good two miles south of where you think it would be. This area had no indication by looking at it that it was in this much danger. There was plenty of dune and beach in this area.

The hotel in the other photos is the Sea Ranch. Frankly, it was already quite ugly, now it just looks worse.

We decided not to try and look at some of the worse areas - such as in Kitty Hawk (which is closed completely except to residents with proof of residency). Be beach road is VERY gone in Kitty Hawk and the only other road (around the KH post office/ 7-11 area) is under water. They're trying to get the water pumped out of there now. Basically, you cannot pass through Kitty Hawk.

For this reason, people who are returning to the outer banks and want to go south of Kitty Hawk have to travel all the way around (through Eliz. City) and over to NC 64 - coming in through the Manteo area. This is about a 4 hour detour to go effectively about 6 miles. The same applies the other way. People wanting to get north of Kitty Hawk must enter the island on 158. It would be worth waiting another day or so until the water is off the pavement.

The photos are posted at: http://www.justfly.com/isabeldamage/

Discuss Isabel at OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2

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HOLC »

Fri, Sep 19 2003, 7:00:02 am GMT

Aeros Combat|Airborne Climax|Alfred Mayer|Andreas "Ernst" Becker|Bernd Weist|Dietmar Rauscher|Exxtacy|HOLC|Icaro Laminar MR|Jochen Zeyher|Lawrence "Pete" Lehmann|Lukas Etz|Marcus Hoffmann|Markus Ebenfeld|Moyes Litespeed|news|OLC|Oliver Schmidt|photo|polar|Reinhard Pöppl

Adi Meierkord (A-I-R) <adi@a-i-r.de> writes:

OLC 2003 Germany results:

1494,63 Langwald Gerd A-I-R Atos
1466,86 Pöppl Reinhard A-I-R Atos
1421,35 Meierkord Adi A-I-R Atos
1306,72 Schmidt Oliver A-I-R Atos
1198,11 Götz Alfred A-I-R Atos
1173,66 Zeyher Jochen A-I-R Atos
1165,67 Dorn Alfons A-I-R Atos
1163,05 Hoffmann-Guben Marcus Axxess, Exxtacy
1132,61 Lehmann Ernst Axxess,
1053,14 Pfander Frank Stratos

The rigid wing pilots were able to use the efficiency of their wings much better during this year and improved their flight performances considerably in comparison to the last year. Gerd Langwald had the longest flight in Germany with 386 km on 24 June “pursued” by Reinhard Pöppl with 348 km on 8 July. Newcomer Alfred Götz could immediately hold his ground among the first 10 pilots. Special congratulations to our woman pilots Andrea Hetzel and Manuela Braun.

Photo of Gerd Langwald

If the rigid wings’ points of the first places are added and compared with those of the flex wings, an advantage of 26% is the result! This confirms considerably the result of the Angerer Open in the flight practice on 11 January 2003. A superiority of the ATOS of 26 % was also measured there (A-I-R/News/Angerer Open). Among the 103 rigid wing pilots 72 flew with A-I-R ATOS. Many thanks for this overwhelming result.

1 1186,53 Becher Tom Moyes Litespeed 4
2 1112,43 Waldmann Peter Moyes Litespeed 5
3 1010,07 Altmannshofer Max Icaro Laminar 13 MRX 700
4 993,43 Etz Lukas Airborne Climax C 2
5 983,16 Weinzierl Georg Icaro Laminar MR
6 978,08 Rauscher Georg Moyes Litespeed 4
7 930,41 Ebenfeld Markus Moyes Litespeed 4
8 929,22 Otterpohl Bernd Aeros Combat
9 912,96 Liebig Rich Moyes Litespeed 4
10 907,03 Wöhrle Roland Moyes Litespeed 4

Unfortunately, the flex wing pilots were hardly able to improve their performance during this season. However, they showed respectable single results, for example Bernd Otterpohl with his long-distance flight of 321 km in chilly polar air.

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NAA bashing

Fri, Jul 11 2003, 5:00:04 pm GMT

altitude|art|balloon|Bill Bolosky|book|CIVL|David "Dave" Glover|David Glover|Dennis Pagen|FAI|G.W. Meadows|Jim Zeiset|NAA|news|Pablo Gomez-Trenor|PG|record|sailplane|speed record|USHGA|world record

Okay, I’ll try not to bash our beloved national aeroclub, and just report the facts. Let’s see, got a letter from Michael R. Pablo, who is the assistant for contests and records about my world record claim. I noticed something funny right away on the left hand side of the letter, a listing of the thirty five NAA board members, including our own Bill Bolosky (as well as John McCain). I asked Bill about this BOD, and he stated:

Being on the NAA BOD doesn't seem to actually involve anything at all other than getting mail. If they actually had a BOD meeting where the members showed up, I'd love to go, just to get to meet John McCain in person.

David Glover mentioned that when he was the USHGA President he was on the NAA board, and the usual procedure was to sign a proxy that let the administrators of the NAA control everything. So it appears while their letterhead looks nice, the real deal is that the administrators run the show and aren’t really responsible to the BOD. Need a salary increase, well just up the dues of the member organizations, like the USHGA.

In the letter was a ransom note, oh, okay, a form requesting $275 for the NAA and $70 for the FAI in order to validate one of my world record attempts. Setting world records in the US, unlike apparently most countries in the world, is a very costly deal.

NAA members (yours truly, for one) can get at no additional charge a yearly record book. Looks like a good money maker for them. Here’s what Bill has to say about that:

I think that the record fees are a major source of funding for the NAA. They publish that record book, and if you look at it, the great bulk of the records are airplane speed records between two points in the US. Basically, for every pair of airports in the US there is a speed record, so there are so many of them that most every pilot can get one.

I don't know how many are on the list, but the number of pairs grows with the square of the number of points, so if there are 200 airports, there are 39,800 available records (the other 200 would be between an airport and itself).

Then there are the serious records (the HG/PG/Sailplane/Balloon/Gyrocopter/etc. records, and aviation records like max altitude and total distance without refueling, etc.) that only take up a few pages.

Bill wrote to tell me that after he unappointed me and appointed Jim Zeiset, the existing alternate CIVL delegate, to be the CIVL delegate, NAA immediately asked for his resume. Presumably, they didn’t have a resume from Jim when he was alternate delegate, just like they didn’t ask for one from G.W. Meadows. I wonder if they ever asked for one or have one on file from Dennis Pagen.

Jim writes:

They did ask and I provided a hang gliding only type of resume. For your readers information the purpose of the resume is to summarize the qualifications of the new delegate for the NAA Publication. In this news letter they notify the world of the new appointment supposedly lauding the appropriate experience of the new choice. The resume is not requested in order for them to pass judgment on.

Please understand that in your chosen position as editor of a popular e-zine you have made thousands of loyal friends and possibly some hostile enemies. Some of these could be sensitive Europeans that may not be endeared to your direct and not always correct style.

Well, Jim should know about direct and not always correct style. ☺ Besides CIVL claims that they weren’t the executioners.

I wrote to ask why they didn’t already have his resume on hand from his days as the alternate. Maybe they don’t care about the alternates.

The USHGA continues to contribute large sums of money to help support the Washington, D.C. life style of these self-regulated bureaucrats whose mission it is to keep records and sponsor airplane art contests for 6th graders. Life is good.

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Google (as a minor deity)

Wed, Jul 9 2003, 5:00:03 pm EDT

news

www.google.com

Toby Quantrill <TQuantrill@sightsavers.org> writes:

Go to Google search engine (www.google.com) and type in “weapons of mass destruction” (no quotes) then hit the “I'm feeling lucky” button.

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2137132,00.html

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USHGA - no CIVL involvement? »

Thu, Jul 3 2003, 3:00:01 pm EDT

Bill Bolosky|CIVL|NAA|news|power|record|USHGA

I received an e-mail from Bill Bolosky, USHGA President, who’s over at the Chelan Cross Country Classic which started on Monday (always starts on a Monday). He wrote:

Anyway, I never said that anyone at CIVL talked to me, I said USHGA and NAA. Sorry for the confusion. You'll also no doubt be amused to know that some of your loyal readers have been sending nasty-grams to the USHGA in support of you.

I must admit I hate getting phone calls because then you never get a record and it’s his word against yours. I distinctly remember hearing Bill say that individuals from CIVL were involved in contesting my appointment as the USHGA CIVL delegate. But, I’m sure that Bill is being honest and that’s how he remembers it.

I don’t know if this is good news or bad news (other than for possible CIVL delegates/officials). If Dennis, some members of the USHGA BOD, and someone from the NAA are the ones involved, one has got to wonder just how thin this opposition is and whether it was orchestrated by the leading opponent.

Still no one has been man enough to come forward with their objections. Apparently the power of their argument is not so evident that it can withstand public scrutiny.

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Ham Nazi’s

Wed, Jul 2 2003, 1:00:04 pm EDT

Doug Keller|news|radio

http://www.arrl.org/news/features/2003/07/01/3/?nc=1

J. Keller <ToweringQs@aol.com> sends this report along:

"ARRL Field and Regulatory Correspondent Chuck Skolaut, K0BOG, received more information regarding possible illegal 2-meter operations in the New Jersey/New York area, in Missouri and also in California, where unlicensed hang glider pilots have been heard. Skolaut has collected reports of intruders on 30, 10 and 2 meters. "

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Go ahead – sue me!

Tue, Jul 1 2003, 5:00:06 pm EDT

communication|internet|news|politics

<Davidmstuf@aol.com> sends this:

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,59424,00.html

"The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last Tuesday that Web loggers, website operators and e-mail list editors can't be held responsible for libel for information they republish, extending crucial First Amendment protections to do-it-yourself online publishers.

“The ruling effectively differentiates conventional news media, which can be sued relatively easily for libel, from certain forms of online communication such as moderated e-mail lists. One implication is that DIY publishers like bloggers cannot be sued as easily.

“"Here, the court basically said that when it comes to Internet publication, you can edit, pick and choose, and still be protected," said Cohn.”

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Another view of the Wild West Regionals

Tue, Jul 1 2003, 9:00:04 pm GMT

Bruce Barmakian|Carson Capaul|competition|job|Kendrick "Ken/Kenny" Brown|Kenny Brown|landing|Mike Tryon|news|Phillip "Phill" Bloom|Richard Sauer|XC

Rich Burton <indasky@yahoo.com> writes:

On the first day, I thought that we were going to be blown out since it was blowing about 10 on launch when we arrived at 10:00 AM. What often happens is that when the West pushes through across Washoe Lake, the thermals that are needed to get over the back become very elusive. The good news was that it stayed about the same as the launch window and prime launch time of 1:00 PM approached. I was rewarded with a 800 FPM climb right off of launch and was smiling as I know how important this first climb is.

The format of this meet is: Launch window is from 11:00 AM until 1:00PM. Your time starts when your feet leave the ground and it stops when you cross a goal line about 28 miles over the back and straight down highway 50.

Anyone who competes knows that if you miss just one climb on a race task, you won't be standing in the winners circle that day. At Carson, that one climb is very likely the one that you enter right after your launch run.

If you have not launched by 1:00, then that is your start time. If you look at the start times for day three, you will see that there were quite a few of us still on the ground at 1:00 on the last day. I believe that this day was my fastest, but the time doesn't reflect that.

I went into this meet not sure how the rigids would compare with the flex wings for this short dash. In the past I have often times found myself low and then climbing too high and flying at 65 + for the last 10 miles through very turbulent air. I knew that I wasn't willing to run at those speeds in my Stratos.

Short story. The rigids did very well. Bruce Barmekian did an exceptional job flying his ATOS-C and clearly won the rigid division. If you look at the elapsed times for the top three rigids and the top three flex wings each day, you will see that the rigids didn't have any disadvantage in this type of race.

I want to thank Ray and Jackie for putting on a great three day meet. I truly enjoy flying the Carson area with its endless landing fields and great climbs (did I mention the 1800fpm climb over Virginia City on the last day?).

I talked with Ray during the meet and we have emailed each other since that time. He is very open to changing the format of the meet next year. The fact that he had a rigid class this year shows his willingness to change.

You need to understand that this meet was started as a fun meet that could be flown without instruments and a minimal amount of XC experience. People are talking all of the time about how to increase pilot participation in local meets. Where are the trial grounds for our World Team pilots?

I believe that one of Ray and Jackie's goal was to make this meet a pilot friendly low tech meet for just these reasons. What I have seen after participating at this meet for the past four years, is that it has become a very technical meet. The intermediate pilot and even many competent XC heroes no longer have a chance. You can look back just a few years to see that the winners are well known names in hang gliding. Making goal is still a reality for most, but going home with one of the infamous Wild West belt buckles has gotten out of reach for many.(How many of these do Rich Sauer and Kenny Brown need ?

There were a lot of familiar faces this year at the Regionals, and a serious void was felt because there were many participants from years past who were not there. I heard second and third hand that some pilots didn't show because of the format. They want to see a longer (flight wise) meet. I hope that this will happen next year and that everyone who has participated in the past will come back, and that there will be many more new faces.

Results:

Flexwing Day One

Phill Bloom 45:07 WWTalon
Ken Brown 46.23 Litespeed S
Sebastia Lutges 51.33 WW Talon

Day 2

Rich Sauer 45:06 Laminar MR700
Phil Bloom 46:25 WW Talon
Ken Brown 48:45 Litespeed S

Day 3

Rich Sauer 53:15 Laminar MR700
Bill Saderquist 55.34 Litespeed
Ken Brown 1:01:24 Litespeed S

Finals:

Phll Bloom
Ken Brown
Rich Sauer

Rigids day one:

Bruce Barmakian 43:10 Atos-C
Rich Burton 47:20 Stratos-C
Mike Tryon 47.55 Stratos – C

Day2

Mike Tryon 43.21 Stratos – C
Bruce Barmakian 43:51 Atos-C
Steve Rudy 1:13:02 ATOS

Day 3

Bruce Barmakian 45:38 Atos-C
Rich Burton 51:05 Stratos-C
Mike Tryon 53;17 Stratos – C

FINALS:

Bruce Barmakian Atos-C
Mike Tryon Stratos-C
Rich Burton Stratos-C

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Hang gliding head lines – link fixed

Fri, Jun 27 2003, 6:00:06 pm EDT

news|Oz Report|site

Do you have a web site related to hang gliding or paragliding? Would you like an easy way to include daily hang gliding news headlines in it?

If so this features is now available from the Oz Report. Just click https://OzReport.com/headline.php to see how.

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Hang gliding head lines

Thu, Jun 26 2003, 6:00:03 pm EDT

news|Oz Report|site

Do you have a web site related to hang gliding or paragliding? Would you like an easy way to include daily hang gliding news headlines in it?

If so this features is now available from the Oz Report. Just click https://OzReport.com/headline.php to see how.

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WRE – did the rest of us miss the big day? »

Mon, Jun 23 2003, 6:03:00 pm GMT

cloud|Dragonfly|news|record|Sam Kellner|world record|Zapata

Today was supposed to be the day. The windcast and upper level winds looked really good. The BLIPMAP was back up and showed 600-700 fpm with lift to 7,000’ near here and higher to the north.

When we get to the airport at 9 AM there are scattered low cu’s forming, collapsing, and reforming. The streets aren’t there although the lift is clearly lined up along the south-southeast lines. Unfortunately there is a bunch of cirrus to the north. So the prospects are not as good as we would like.

I go up for a little test flight at 10 AM. Bo drags me up in the Flytec Dragonfly. I find light lift under very thin clouds and drift quickly down wind in the 22 mph breeze.

I work back up wind as the lift isn’t that great while Russ tows Bo up and to the clouds to the east. This boy is going for it as it is unlikely that he could make it back to the airport with this wind.

I at 10:20 I find 450 fpm and climb back to cloud base, but looking at the cirrus ahead and the scattered cu’s, I decide not to try for 500 miles today.

Bo is on a quest. At 1 PM we hear he is 105 miles out. At 3 PM we hear that he is 185 miles out. He’s going 40 mph. He has a chance to set the new world record.

Oops, it appears as though the news was wrong. Bo is down at 167 miles out. Sam Kellner from Leahy and his friend Bob chased him down.

The sky is completely full of beautiful thick cu’s in the afternoon. There have been cu’s all day long and it looks outstanding. The satellite shows some blue in central Texas though.

The 3:30 PM satellite shows cu’s all the way to Oklahoma from the Gulf coast. No cu’s in west Texas though, so the point would be to fly up highway 83 toward Abilene or Wichita Falls. The winds were right for that.

The cu’s at mid day in Zapata.

The forecast for tomorrow is good also. I’ll try for a 9:30 launch.

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16 channel GPS

Fri, Jun 13 2003, 2:03:03 pm EDT

antenna|competition|FAA|Flytec 4030|Flytec 5030|GPS|news|power|software

Tim Obrien <earthtouch@earthlink.net> writes with regard to the new GPS antenna that is going in the Flytec 5030:

I understand that from a marketing standpoint being able to say you can read 16 GPS satellites is a good idea since most people do not understand you only need 4-6 to get a good reading. I sell and integrate Trimble GPS solutions with software applications and I do hope that you are not giving up valuable CPU processing power to try and analyze 16 channels of L1 and L2 for your system.

Most of the time a user is lucky to get a minimum of 8 satellites in the US. If you have the ability to use the New WAAS (Wide Area Augmentation Service) provided by the FAA for one channel you need to get that news out there for the readers. It is my understanding that FAA is planning on putting up a third central correctional satellite within the next three years. All flying aircraft should be able to use the current WAAS system.

I would like to hear more about this if you are using WAAS. If you are not using WAAS is that a result of the GPS chip you elected to use? I don’t work for any competition of yours just a curious GPS salesmen and hang glider pilot.

My Flytec 4030 is still a great box!!! Now I wish I had the cash to look at a new 5030.

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Death in Greece

Tue, Jun 10 2003, 2:03:05 pm EDT

accident|competition|Costas Papaspyrou|crash|death|helmet|landing|news|Oz Report|picture|spin|students

Costas N Papaspyrou <cn-pappy@compulink.gr> writes:

I was surprised to read about the accident up at Serres in the Oz Report (https://OzReport.com/toc.php?Ozv7n148.shtml#4). As I saw the article was taken from a news paper than it was naturally wrong.

The guy didn’t spin around. He was losing height while trying to catch a thermal but he couldn’t find it. He had only about twenty to thirty hours of experience. He was trained by his uncle, an old hang glider pilot. He had not joined a club and he was not in the competition. I don’t know details about why he was allowed to fly at the end of the Greek category 2 competition.

The reason I'm writing about it is because today the outcome of the examination says that the guy died of a small hit through an industrial helmet he was wearing. The crash, as it was reported in the newspaper would with any other helmet would definitely not been a problem. The body showed no other injuries.

What actually happened, according to a friend flying above, is that he landed somewhere to the left of a gorge. The glider stopped for a short period, but then slid back down the edge of the gorge, tumbling and then it fell for 50m upside down to where the picture shows it landing. The conclusion is that the helmet is to blame after his head injuries.

I don’t really know what to say for such an unjustified loss. Personally I don’t allow any of my students to use anything other than a full face helmet. I have vivid in my memory another accident years ago of a friend doing a top landing. He was pushed back by the wind to the rotors and crashed on a rock. He underwent a lot of head surgery to keep his jaw and teeth and to be able to eat. No students of mine fly without a full face helmet even before they buy a vario. The guy had nothing with him.

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Mainstreaming personal flight

Mon, Jun 9 2003, 2:03:02 pm EDT

news

Brent Wright <DigitalThreads@earthlink.net> sends in this URL link to a story in the Bellingham paper about he and his wife flying hang gliders and paragliders.

http://news.bellinghamherald.com/stories/20030609/LocalState/143958.shtml

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Flatlands competition in Germany

Mon, Jun 9 2003, 2:03:01 pm EDT

competition|news|OLC|sport

Georg Weber <legroff@yahoo.com> writes:

Another flatland competition. For us it was the first time in that format (all North+East Germany together). The pictures tell the story: http://werk3000.de/GerFlat2003.htm

The overall results are at: http://www.dcb.org/SPORT/
2003/GF2003%20OVERALL%20-%20ALL.pdf

The detailed results are at: http://www.dcb.org/news/cms/show_news.php?id=59

Also some of the pilots' flights can be found on the OLC-server.

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On the road »

Sun, Jun 1 2003, 6:03:00 pm GMT

Australia|Belinda Boulter|Brad Kushner|competition|Dell Schanze|flight park|internet|news|Ron Gleason

We’re on the road north to Wisconsin heading to the Midwestern Regional Hang Gliding Championships which start on the upcoming weekend. On Sunday night we camped in rural Georgia south of Atlanta in a super quiet very small RV park. No bugs, a cool night, bluebirds, and a sunny cool morning to start off the next day.

On Monday, the rain started in the afternoon as we drove into Kentucky and it has finally stopped here in southern Illinois around 11 PM. With everything so green you’d think it had been raining all winter and spring.

Internet access is now much reduced of course, and I got the news items below Monday evening in the RV park office at 28 kbs, instead of 1.5 Mbs. My modem has gone dead, so I had to use Belinda’s computer (and that computer’s modem didn’t work in Australia). This dead modem issue may be endemic with these Dell 8100’s. I’ll have to check with Ron Gleason later this week on that.

Brad Kushner is supposed to have DSL wireless access at his Whitewater, Wisconsin flight park, so things should improve. Right now we are using wireless networking for inner trailer networking between Belinda’s computer and mine. Fast, but no internet access.

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The PG issues

Thu, May 22 2003, 2:00:02 pm EDT

Cory Barnwell|magazine|news|Oz Report|PG|Quest Air

The next few articles concentrate on paragliding, which is unusual for the Oz Report. This isn’t a conscious effort on my part. It just seems that I have access to a bunch of paragliding news lately and there is a bunch of paragliding activity here at Quest Air.

Paragliding is not something of particular interest to me (I use to do it), but I see its practitioners as members of the hang gliding community and I certainly like to encourage its growth.

John Cory is not too happy about the direction that he feels the Hang Gliding and Paragliding Magazine is taking – drifting toward paragliding: https://OzReport.com/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=101

Andy Mutz sends in $10 as he sees me more consistently covering paragliding. I feel that it is just an aberration. ☺

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UK Flying

Fri, May 16 2003, 12:00:07 pm EDT

Brendan Reid|news|site|XC

http://www.pottyplace.com/comps/xcl.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/england/staffordshire/3031843.stm

Brendan Reid <brendanreid@btinternet.com> writes:

Yes, it has been a bit windy for the pgs the last couple of weeks in England and Wales and for bloody ages in Scotland (where I live) but there has still been a lot of >100km action among the pgs. See the excellent web site for the league above.

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Why FAI Sporting Licenses?

Tue, May 6 2003, 3:00:03 pm EDT

Betinho Schmitz|CIVL|competition|drug testing|FAI|FAI Sporting License|medicine|news|Worlds

What good do these licenses do? Why do we have another hurdle to competition? What does having this piece of paper in your pocket do for anyone? Do we want to continually discourage pilots from entering competitions?

Getting an FAI Sporting License does nothing for the FAI or for CIVL. What control are we talking about here? Is this like the US southern states voter registration roles?

If this is only a problem for non Europeans? Is this another wedge to divide Europeans and non-Europeans? Should we just give up now and rename the WPRS the EPRS?

How is CIVL going to know who or who doesn’t have an FAI Sporting License? There is no central database. Each country keeps their own lists and doesn’t share them with the FAI.

What’s next, drug testing at the Worlds?

BTW, on that subject I did talk to Betinho about how many Red Bulls it would take fail the drug tests at the upcoming Worlds in Brazil. He was a bit vague but it seemed if he drank six to eight Red Bulls a day, he would get close to the limit. He said he would have a hard time doing more than three.

BTW did you notice that the International Olympic Committee never threw out the Iraqi National Olympic Committee even though it was well know that they tortured Iraq athletes?

http://espn.go.com/oly/news/2003/0221/1512236.html

http://www.iraqfoundation.org/hr/2002/cdec/27_issam.html

http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/chatESPN?event_id=2934

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/brennan/2003-04-24-brennan_x.htm

“The International Olympic Committee works in strange ways. If a gymnast is discovered to have taken a banned substance found in cold medicine, her Olympic gold medal can be stripped away, rightly enough, in little more than two days.

If a well-known sprinter tests positive for steroids, he can lose his Olympic gold medal overnight and have his reputation ruined forever.

But if a national Olympic committee tortures its own athletes, if it beats them, if it orders some of its athletes to be thrown off a bridge or tossed into a vat of raw sewage, the IOC will have a committee get all over it.

The allegations are in the mail. No hurry on that report. Get back to us in a few months, will you?”

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Will fly for subscriptions »

Sun, May 4 2003, 5:00:00 pm GMT

donations|Florida|news|Oz Report

Oz Report readers who helped out on Sunday: A lonely voice in the comforts of Florida reports on the hang gliding world’s news.

The Oz Report is freely available to all subscribers and relies on yearly subscription/donations for support.

You can see how to send in $10 (or more) for a yearly subscription/donation to the Oz Report below.

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Jet powered Doodlebug

Thu, May 1 2003, 2:00:05 pm EDT

news|powered

http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/flylight/doodlebug/news.htm

Very noisy. Ten minutes at 1 litre per minute.

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The greedy looking for the greedy

Wed, Apr 30 2003, 1:00:08 pm EDT

cost|exercise|Flytec USA|G.W. Meadows|helmet|news|Steve Kroop

Steve Kroop at Flytec USA <flytec@earthlink.net> writes:

Please beware of international inquiries (especially from Indonesia) for Flytec and Garmin instruments. We have been getting numerous email requests to purchase these products with a credit card and I know that several of you have been getting these inquiries as well. In most cases these are scam artists with stolen CC numbers. Here is a typical scam email:

From: selh ep (mailto:slumber_green@yahoo.com)
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2003 11:34 AM
To: info@4superfly.com
Subject: Costumer Inquery

Dear Sir

I'm from Indonesia, and very interest to buy the products from you. That is: # Variometer Flytec (4030) Do you accept payment via credit card? Do you ship to Indonesia via FedEx? Give me recalculate the total price include the shipping cost to Indonesia via FedEx.

Please confirm me ASAP, and I look forward to hearing a good news from you.

Thanks and have a great day.

Leo

Do not get burned, exercise extreme caution with unsolicited email inquiries

G. W. Meadows <gw@justfly.com> writes:

I too have been contacted by these people. They use the name "sol paragliding". They never seemed quite right and I could not confirm any of the information they gave me regarding billing info on the credit cards that they gave me. My bank would not guarantee them either.

When I told them I would give them a discount if they would wire the money to my account - I never heard back from them. One of the biggest telltale clues was that they never asked me a price to begin with. They wanted to buy 10 helmets, but never asked how much - just gave me a credit card to pay for them.

I know they tried to buy Flytec varios from Chad using the same m.O.

It's hard to turn down 10 helmet sales at retail in the middle of winter - but luckily my 'little warning voice' won out.

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Save Cypress Gardens

Sat, Apr 26 2003, 1:00:08 pm EDT

Charles "Charlie" Baughman|Florida|news|site

This is where very early Florida hang gliding got its exposure and support. Charlie Wilson <cwilson8@tampabay.rr.com> writes:

The host site of many hang gliding comps over the years FL's Cypress Gardens closed its doors two weeks ago. The Gardens included hang gliding as part of their water ski shows for years with sponsorship from Moyes. Many Florida pilots’ roots to hang gliding were made via the ski shows. I believe both Wallaby and Quest helped out with sponsorship at HG comps held there in recent years.

Hank Amos going for the bonus points:

"The Save the Gardens effort has established an informational website coordinated by the Greater Winter Haven Chamber of Commerce. Visitors to the site will find such information as our purpose, people, news, frequently asked questions, photographs and contact information".

www.savethegardens.com

So I would encourage any interested Pilots/Parties to sign up for their green thumb duties at the site.

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Flying with Vultures

Fri, Apr 25 2003, 8:00:08 pm GMT

altitude|book|cloud|fire|James Oakley|job|Knut Ryerson|landing|Maria Diekmann|Mark Griffin|Markus Hanfstaengl|news|record|Rob Manzoni|smoke|space|survival|tow|trike

Rafael Dubois <Rafael@geebroadcast.co.uk> sends in his story about the previous Flight for Plight

Once upon a time, in a very remote and exotic land lived the world's loneliest hang glider pilot. He was lonely not because he was an ageing pilot who refused to join a trendy para-world and flew solo through crowded skies bursting with inflated, multicoloured rags. No, our hero flew alone because there were no humans sharing his aerial realm. In that magical land his only companions were vultures, eagles and buzzards, who would share the strong thermals that would take him aloft, high above the pristine, stunning and endless landscapes.

The happy pilot was married to a beautiful Queen and together they worked hard to preserve their wonderful kingdom from the evil forces of irresponsible commercial farming and apathy towards nature. One day, after discovering that a group of their beloved feathered subjects were in serious peril, the Queen commanded her winged knight to set forth on a noble quest. But such an enterprise was difficult and our pilot, together with his faithful glider and trusted vario, couldn't face alone the enormity of the worthy mission. He needed to recruit outside help and thus the "Flight for the Plight" was born…

Namibian pilot Jörg Diekmann is the country's last active hang glider pilot. He lives with his family in a farm in the middle of that beautiful but almost uninhabited corner of the world, where his nearest neighbour is another farm over 50 km away. The Diekmanns are concerned about the survival of a rare species of African vulture: the Cape Griffin, whose last Namibian colony nests at the Waterberg Plateau's cliffs near the Diekmanns' farm. But this is not an issue of merely liking vultures or wanting to have them around as thermal markers. Theses birds do a vital job as refuse collectors in their natural habitat, eating away decomposing carcasses and leaving the savannas clean from decay and disease. Consequently, in 2000 the Diekmanns established a conservation fund called REST (Rare & Endangered Species Trust) with the aim of saving this vulture species.

Namibian farming is a tough business: droughts combined with abundant predators kill thousands of cattle every year. The easiest solution is to kill hyenas, jackals and leopards with poisoned carcasses. However it is often the birds that find these deadly baits first with terrible consequences - one treated carcass can kill over 100 vultures. Although a total poisoning ban would be the best environmental solution, this couldn't be realistically enforced due to the remoteness and spread of the farms. The best pragmatic solution is to educate the farmers, so that they voluntarily minimise the ecological impact of poisoning by using it in a controlled and responsible manner.

After the successful launch of REST, the next step was to embark on a national campaign of awareness and education aimed at the farming community. To achieve that, the Diekmanns needed to come up with something high-profile and original in order to generate news in the local papers and media. Their solution was the "Flight for the Plight", an international free flying rally to raise money and awareness for REST.

The event took place during the first two weeks of November 2001. The first week was located at the base of the Waterberg Cliffs, from where daily tasks were set. The second week consisted of a "traveling rally" covering the most spectacular sights of Namibia by flying to a different goal everyday, where pilots spent the night and took off the following day. In between, there was a full day dedicated to the local press with an aerial display at Otjiwarongo, in the heart of the Namibian farming community. Although everybody was welcome, the majority of participants were hang gliding pilots, 17 in total, with only 4 paraglider attendees. There were pilots from South Africa, Holland, Germany, Britain and Venezuela.

That is how I found myself in an Air Namibia flight looking through the window, imagining I was gliding, spotting flying routes and landing fields. To my horror, after more than 30 min flying over the bushveld of near Windhoek, I had not seen a single tiny patch suitable for landing a paraglider, let alone a hang glider. My first impression of Namibia was one of hundreds of square kilometres of desolated emptiness that were evenly covered with boulders and nasty looking thorn scrub - later inspection confirmed my worse fears: each plant has thousands of incredibly hard, sharp and pointy lethal spines.

Namibia is not only a really beautiful country; it is also a fascinating place full of surprises. The drive from the airport to the Diekmanns' farm revealed troops of baboons, herds of kudu & oryx, warthogs and a jackal. The same impromptu safaris were repeated daily on our way to the tow field, with the constant addition of more species. Watching giraffes running near the car against the sunset and searching for ostriches feathers at the tow field were just part of the experience. Despite all these idyllic descriptions, we were flying in an area far from being a wholesome paradise. I took notice of this during my first pilot's briefing where the main emphasis was on avoiding dehydration, the possibility of spending days in the open bush waiting for retrieve and how to handle dangerous wild life such as snakes, hyenas, and leopards! There is no where to land but on gravel roads, which are sometimes narrow and perpendicular to the wind. Dust and thorns are everywhere ready to damage your sail. The sun is so strong that my eyes became strained despite of wearing sunglasses constantly - we towed from salt pans and the glare was worse than climbing a glacier on a cloudless day. Perhaps the worse were the number of strong dusties which damaged several gliders during our adventure.

Having said all of that, Namibia is a pilot's paradise well worth the extra care. Conditions were absolutely outstanding: one of the best I have ever had the pleasure to fly in. There were cross country flights over 200 Kms (The longest flight was Germany's Markus Hanfstaengl of 283 km) I broke my own altitude gain record reaching cloud base a little over 5,200 Mts. and being over 4,000 Mts. above the tow field! (For those of you still living in the Neanderthal Imperial system, this is 13,100 feet over the ground) And believe me, terra firma was an awfully long way down.

I could write a book about all the great experiences we had in Namibia, but due to space constrains I'll limit myself to only 5 anecdotes that should illustrate the diversity and uniqueness of the adventures that we enjoyed.

1. Petrol: the most precious commodity for the Namibian drive.r Being a relatively unpopulated country there are few petrol stations. Often during an all-night retrieve we were forced to take 60 to 80 km detours from the main route just to fill up the tank. One night after collecting all the pilots we didn't have enough fuel to make the 60 km needed to reach home, so we were forced to drive in the opposite direction 40 km to the only known 24-hour petrol station, which of course increased the total driving distance to 140 km. Upon arrival, the service station was closed and no matter how much we banged the door and beeped the horn the owner understandably didn't feel like filling our tank up at 2:00 AM. Eventually we went to the police station for help. The officers, still wearing their pyjamas but carrying their machineguns, managed to wake the owner and have him sell the precious liquid to us. We eventually reached home at 4:30 AM.

2. Kalahari sands. Flying late in the evening towards the end of a fantastic cross country, I was enjoying the beginning of the sunset. Suddenly, against the sun, I noticed the smoke of a large fire far in the horizon. After a few minutes gliding I glanced again towards the smoke to check the wind direction. To my horror I realised it was now ten times bigger and coming fast toward me: it was a sand storm! The sight from the air was breathtaking; it was shaped like an arrowhead, but slowly moving like a gigantic wave, continuously growing and advancing. Fascinating as it was, I knew I was in trouble so I had to think fast. I was still high and I didn't have time to land before it reached me, so I decided to ride the front and get as far as possible from the point of the "arrowhead". When I reached the gust level my glider started to fly backwards, so I descended full VG on completely vertically with very poor visibility due to the blasting sand and the twilight. Luckily I was over a farm with a large cleared field and my retrieve was already waiting, ready to assist me with the difficult ground handling. Children don't try this at home!

3. Biblical times. Often, we had to deliberately cut short a cross country to land at a farm in order to use their phone. You need to do this as there is no mobile coverage, the lack of distinguishable land features and few inhabitants for what can be several dozens Kms. At a very remote farm, even by Namibian standards, I landed in the middle of what I thought was a party due to the amount of cars parked there. Instead of a jolly atmosphere, I was very solemnly escorted inside the farmhouse to a phone. I was beginning to feel completely out of place with dusty feet & sandals and Oakley sunglasses pushed over my head. As I picked up the receiver, I froze in front of an unforgettable sight. I was facing around 30 God-fearing Afrikaners, who after a long awkward silence and plenty of stern, disapproving looks, chose to ignore me and started to sing religious hymns accompanied by an old organ and 3 accordions. All of them were modestly dressed in conservative, Victorian-style clothes which I suspected had changed little from the ones worn by their Boer ancestors who trekked to these lands in the late 1700's! After I finished my call, I was politely ushered out of the house and had to wait for my retrieve outside. This was the only farm were I wasn't welcomed to wait inside I wonder why.

4. South Africa: Land of Saints We were lucky to count on two of our very own South African Saints, who share the same name although they couldn't be more different of each other. Saint Rob Manzoni was everybody's guardian angel, happily helping anyone who had the slightest need of assistance. I have never met someone so self-giving, who really put everybody's need above his own and his interest in flying. Thanks St. Rob! The other, Saint Rob Rademayer, was the democratic joy-giver who shared his immense love of flying with anyone who showed interest in it, regardless of their relationship to our group, age, gender, race or social status. Saint Rob generously brought a dual-seat trike just to give people rides over the majestic Namibian landscape without expecting anything in return. Everybody, from a tourist who-happen-to-be-there, to 70 year-old ladies working on conservation projects, from humble farm workers to pilots' children, from drivers to people simply hanging around. For all of them, Rob was always there smiling and ready to share the miracle of flying. Thanks St. Rob!

5. What if… After a late start, a 120 km out-of-return was set on the last day. On the way back, the only two pilots close to goal were Germany's Knut von Hentig and I. We weren't very high, the sky had deteriorated very quickly and it was obvious that the day was dying fast. We were only 20 km from goal and a brave Knut went for a direct glide over no-man's land. The glide was very tight and he risked the possibility of shredding the glider to pieces in a thorny bushveld-landing and, in the case of surviving it, walking all night to the nearest road. I mentally wished good luck to the courageous German ace, but personally restrained myself in following his path to glory. Instead, I settled for a chicken run, safely flying two legs over the dirt track that added an extra 10 km to goal - rather than flying Knut's hypotenuse shorter route. Obviously my judgement spared my glider but didn't take me to goal; I landed 14 km short despite scratching in the air for another 45 minutes until sunset. Luckily Knut did indeed land in goal but only just. He said that the worst was not skimming the harsh thorn scrubland or dodging tall trees for what it seemed ages. No, what really scared him was the sudden realisation that the last 5 km to goal involved flying over a wild lion reserve that we were strongly warned against doing three days earlier!

…and so the noble quest was a success. The Queen and her winged knight managed to raise money for REST and communicate the message of the vultures' plight to the farmers. Are they going to live peacefully ever after? I don't think so because the Diekmanns are planning to repeat the Flight for the Plight in November 2003, which means that lots of pilots will have fun in their magic kingdom once again! For more information please check www.restafrica.org or contact Jörg and Maria at: <awt@iafrica.com.na>

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Flying the flag for foot launched flight

Thu, Apr 24 2003, 5:00:06 pm EDT

advertising|bungee jumping|communication|cost|electric|equipment|FAA|FAQ|fatality|Florida|game|job|landing|magazine|news|Oz Report|PG|picture|radio|Rod Clark|safety|sailplane|site|space|speed gliding|sport|students|USHGA

Rod Clark <Rod.Clark@ge.com> writes:

Since beginning to hang glide I’ve become acutely aware of the need to bolster participation in the sport. It’s clear by reading The Oz Report, and Hang Gliding and Paragliding Magazine that our sport needs new pilots. I’ve seen discussions on marketing in The Oz Report, and as a marketing person myself (for General Electric. Yes… I bring good things to life) I began thinking about how we can grow our sport.

I had a chuckle when I saw the “We need your friends” ad in the HG and PG magazine. I’ve been trying to drag friends into the sport since I began, and haven’t been successful once. As a marketing campaign goes, it’s a bit silly. USHGA’s target market isn’t people interested in me (my friends). USHGA’s target market is the people who’ve always dreamed of flying, but weren’t exposed to our sport. Thus, I’ve put together a few ideas about how we can capture the hearts and minds of those individuals and really communicate a message to them. Soaring is a reality, and it’s available to you.

My plan boils down to two basic premises in marketing; Identifying a target market, and providing for them an awareness of our sport. Let’s look first at the target market.

Paraglider pilots are the first and most obvious choice. First, paraglider pilots are already interested in soaring and have already taken the first steps to make their dream come true. However, because of the overlap in flying conditions, Hang Gliding offers Paraglider pilots an opportunity to fly when they might otherwise be to strong. Every USHGA instructor should encourage all of their students to become biwingual at some point in their flying career. It’s good for the sport and the pilots.

Although sailplanes are in the same dire membership situation we are in, it is a source of potential hang gliding and paragliding pilots. Although much of the sailplane community is older, there is a core group of young people that hang gliding may appeal to. I personally was never interested in hang gliding per say. I wanted to soar and I wanted to fly sailplanes. What I really wanted to do was fly, and when I realized the drawbacks for sailplanes (they are expensive, easily breakable, must always be flown within distance of a landing strip, much more work in the air, and the tiny excuse for a cockpit that you are claustrophobically stuck in) I began looking elsewhere.

A low cost marketing campaign would be to make an alliance with the SSA and “swap” (by swap I mean run ads without charging each other) advertising space in our respective member magazines. We could run ads saying “think outside the bubble”, “think smaller”, or something silly like that. Push the idea that flying with the wind in your face is the dreamy alternative, that high-performance hang gliders are almost reaching 20:1, and you don’t have to pay for tows.

One of our best sources is the FAA/AOPA private pilot community. How many times have you heard this story. We all have friends who are licensed private pilots who are not flying, or are not even current on their rating. Why? There are several reasons. First, renting Cessnas is terribly cost prohibitive. Who can afford to go flying at $70 per hour? Not me, and truth be told, not many people. My best friend has had his private license since he was sixteen. He’s thirty now with one kid and probably hasn’t flown in a year (not because he doesn’t want to).

Second (and most importantly), most private pilots are disillusioned by the idea of flying. People are drawn to flying from a young age. Every kid runs down the sidewalk with their arms out like a bird trying to lift off the ground. They imagine the wind in their face, swishing and swooping with the birds. Then, when we become “grown-ups” we seek the most obvious choice, a private pilot license. After getting licensed most pilots come to the same conclusion, “This isn’t like my dreams of flying”.

Frankly, flying a Cessna sucks. It’s noisy (really noisy). The cockpits are awful (like flying a Yugo). The windshield is usually scratched up to the point you can barely see out of it. You are severely restricted in where you can fly, and what you can do when you fly there. Headphones and an almost constant communication with an air traffic control tower make the dream of “running down the sidewalk with your arms out” seem more like mechanized warfare.

Before those perspective pilots become to disinterested (or go broke renting planes) let’s capture them and bring them into our sport. Again, our two governing organizations can “swap” advertising space in our member magazines. FAA/AOPA can run ads saying “Go further” or “Have the batteries in your lift died”. USHGA can run ads saying “What’s the buzz all about” eluding to the noise of the cockpit. We need to exploit our strengths (like cost, noise, fun) and share with them “this is closer to your original dream”. Also, break the common reply “I need a motor to feel safe” by describing how you can always fly within gliding distance of a safe landing spot.

Let’s also cater to the idea of owning something high-tech. Show them high performance wings like the ATOS or the Talon and give them something to get their mouth watering. Most people like the idea of owning something. Since hang gliders no longer look like “the bamboo butterfly”, we can advertise “You can’t afford that Cessna, but you can own this super-high-performance-flying machine for less than ten grand” (well, sort of). I read in a recent article of Flying Magazine how cost prohibitive it is to own a twenty year old Cessna 182. They estimated total cost of ownership at over $22,000 per year, or $179.00 per hour to operate. Let’s sell them our toys for much much less!

Heck, I could lay out the ads if you can negotiate the free advertising space. Additionally, my swapping idea is really effective if we get placement on their web sites (and this goes for all of my markets).

RC pilots also make a great audience. First, the hobby is thriving, especially in the electric and sailplane/electric markets. Second, the audience spans all generations. RC pilots start as bright teens and carry on well into their twilight years. Many of the “twenty’s and thirty’s” pilots probably do not realize that our sport would allow them to “actually fly” and in many cases be comparable in cost (have you priced a comp RC sailplane and 8-channel computer radio these days?). For about the same cost as a nice RC sailplane you can own a Falcon. Again, swap space in AMA’s magazine and on their web site.

I struggle with some of the following suggestions, because it may sound as though I’m contradicting myself. We need to grow our pilot base by appearing as an intellectual sport, and Zen sport, but a large audience is the X-Games generation. Allow me to address these individually.

First, the perception in the mind of the general public is that hang gliding is for the lunatic fringe and the thrill seeker. A common response when somebody hears that you are a hang gliding pilot is “Oh, do you also skydive and bungee jump”. Bungee jumping is a game of crapping your pants for eleven-point-five seconds. Hang gliding is a sport of Zen like concentration. Those who endeavor (and survive) are typically intelligent, conservative people who thrive on the extreme concentration, strategy, and constant decision making.

In a way, Rock Climbers are an excellent target market for hang gliding. Have been a former big wall climber myself, I can tell you this first hand. In rock climbing (as in flying) you really hope that nothing “exciting” will happen. A climber may work diligently and focus intensely for hours on end trying to reach the summit. During that process, a Zen like clearing of the mind and all of its worries is achieved through a purging of any excess, allowing for a clear calming focus. Sound like a light lift day to you? We can appeal to this audience. Put an ad in Rock and Ice magazine saying “Seeking a higher Zen, try this”.

The part that I struggle with is this.

We need to appeal to the X-games generation. Rock climbing, hiking, mountaineers, pilots are all a similar breed of conservative individual. These people are the same age as the X-gamers, have common interests with X-gamers, and are in the same overall demographic, but are fundamentally different in their willingness to put their life on the line. I fly because I feel it is safe. I am a pilot, not a lunatic. I’m also from the X-game generation.

The tough part is, we need the exposure of something like the X-games to bring people awareness of our sport. The down side is that we may not want some of the people it may bring (freestyle motocrossers come to mind). The last thing hang gliding needs is a surge in popularity by reckless thrill seekers and have our annual fatality rate skyrocket. We must choose carefully which genera we appeal to. X-gamers will likely be enthused about speed gliding. But that enthusiasm could in the long run kill our sport. Can the WRE make it as an X-game or Olympic test sport? We should ask.

The second part of my marketing plan (the first being target marketing, which we just covered) is about awareness and perception of the general public, and making hang gliding desirable and accessible.

The first issue to tackle is the one of safety. The perception in the mind of Joe Public is that hang gliding is a dangerous sport. Because of the steep learning curve just thirty years ago, this worry is not without merit. However, whenever hang gliding appears in the press outside of our circles, it is important that we stress that the sport has evolved into a safe, fun activity with high-tech equipment and structured teaching. Instructors and pilots must preach this to prospective pilots.

Having said that, USHGA should have a public relations person (even a member volunteering their services) to actively communicate with local news papers whenever an event is taking place in that area. Beyond that, we can even push for story placement in lifestyle sections of the Sunday paper. This is especially important in markets with such huge potential (such as those in California or Florida). Articles should stress safety, soaring as a sport in general, and the opportunity for every man and woman to become a pilot. And emphasize, “We are not the lunatic fringe!”

Once these open minds have been captured an exciting web portal must be available for the prospective pilots to explore. I believe that an exciting and graphic FAQ section on the USHGA web site is highly desirable. Current visitors to the USHGA are greeted with a very business like web site, designed to suit active pilots and instructors. For that purpose, I believe that USHGA has done a very good job. However, a picture section, with descriptions of different facets of our sport would be highly beneficial in capturing the imagination of prospective pilots, and furthering their dreams of soaring.

Since the low cost, compared to any other type of flight, is a highly desirable trait, we really must emphasize it. You’ve all had a look at your fellow pilots. You know that most of us are of modest means. When I initially became interested in Hang Gliding, the first instructor I contacted only offered package deals for lessons. I thought, jeez I can’t plunk down $1400 up front! I ultimately chose an instructor that allowed me to pay per lesson. In my opinion, all USHGA instructors should offer per-lesson plans. We have to make it as easy as possible for anyone to become a pilot, and not give any reason to turn them away.

We’ve developed a bunch of great single surface gliders. Now let’s get some new people excited about using them!

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The 2003 Wallaby Open

Wed, Apr 23 2003, 4:00:01 pm EDT

Alessandro "Alex" Ploner|Alex Ploner|battens|Betinho Schmitz|Brett Hazlett|Bruce Barmakian|Christian Ciech|David Chaumet|Davis Straub|death|gaggle|GPS|Kraig Coomber|Leonardo Dabbur|Mike Barber|news|Swift|Wallaby Open 2003

http://www.wallaby.com/wallabyopen/2003/

Okay, the lead – Manfred doesn’t get to goal once again. What is the sound of Manfred not making goal? When is a nonevent news? Twice in two days. Yesterday he dropped to second place below Oleg. Today he tumbles further.

As I was breaking down my glider I saw that Manfred was the passenger in the car coming to pick up Alex and Christian at goal. Wow! Things are really open for someone else to win this meet.

Okay, if it hadn’t been for that the lead would have been the mid air. Out on course, in the air, in a thick gaggle, a glider landed on top of Leonardo Dabbur’s flex wing. He apparently bent some of the root battens, as Leonardo had trouble flying the glider after that. Finally he decided to land. We don’t know at the moment who the other pilot was.

But, what about the death gaggle just outside the start window? We had a 20 mile radius entry start window today centered on the first turnpoint. Do you think this would at least spread out the pilots? Well the lift was weak and with 80 pilots in the same or a nearby thermal it was almost impossible to stay in any “core.”

There was no separate start circle radius or whatever for the various classes, so that didn’t help at all. It was truly unbelievably ridiculous. I came very close to being hit or hitting (who knows which is which) three gliders. This was a common experience.

At first we were able to climb up over 3,500’ but as more and more pilots got into the air, it became more and more difficult to stay in the lift without endangering yourself and others. So we slowly began to sink as this chart shows (the red vertical line is when I leave to go on course) down to 2,300’. The last two humps before the red line are when I go inside the start circle (which in this case means I go out on course) to get away from the gaggles, and then I go back outside the start circle (to start) and only a few pilots are in the gaggle with me.

This graphic displays the hour that I spent in flight before I took the last start time at 2:45 PM:

I spent 70 percent of the hour turning and the average rate of climb was 90 fpm. Everyone else was in the same situation, trying to stay up in what seemed like weak lift because none of us could fly in the core.

Some went on course when the death gaggle just became too much. They became the rabbits for us to chase. Oleg went at 2:30 to get out of the death gaggle. I went with him, but went back to get the 2:45 clock.

Alex Ploner, Christian Ciech, David Chaumet, and Bruce Barmakian were high at 2:45 at the start circle. Kraig Coomber and Brett Hazlett left at 2:45 but were able to catch the 2:30 guys as they started high and raced to the Bok Tower where the earlier guys (Oleg, Antoine, Curt, Johnny, Carlos, and Betinho) were low.

What task you ask?

Down to Lake Wales, to a new turnpoint to the south of Bok Tower to keep us in GPS coverage, southwest to Larry to keep us near the orange groves and pasture lands and away from the swamps, and then down highway seventeen to Wauchula airport. With the north-northwest wind predicted to be about 10 mph today, and with moderate lift and no clouds, we were worried about being able to get off a reasonable task.

And talk about anxiety. The task committee is built to enhance anxiety. Mike Barber does not want to call a task until two minutes before the first pilot launches if then. There are so many different personalities going in so many different directions on the task committee that I just keep my mouth shut. They (we) call three task today before at the last minute we decide on the medium task (I want the long one).

So we are gliding south over the orange groves toward Lake Wales and thankfully there are plenty of folks out in front to show us the lift. Nice to have friends when there aren’t any clouds. My gaggle finds some good lift just northwest of the Bok Tower and get the highest that we are going to get at 4,300’.

It’s a short run to the turnpoint in Lake Wales and then we can see the lead gaggle to the west-southwest. Knowing that there is some lift ahead is a great benefit as we can pass up weak lift and go for the good stuff. Just before the turnpoint at Larry we have to crawl up from 1,600’, but that will be enough to get us to 4,100’ and high enough to pick and choose before we go on glide from 10 miles out at 4,000’.

I have a Swift way below and in front of me on final glide also. I figure that he is going to make it, so all I’ve got to do is keep him below me. I’m actually able to beat him to goal.

Plenty of pilots make it into goal.

In order:

Alex Ploner 14:45 16:38:12 1st rigid
David Chaumet 14:45 16:42:19
Christian Ciech 14:45 16:42:35
Burce Barmakian 14:45 16:43:45
Kraig Coomber 14:45 16:47:02 1st flex
Brett Hazlett 14:45 16:47:02
Antoine 14:30 16:47:18
Oleg 14:30 16:47:26
Curt, Jon 14:30 16:47:30
Carlos, Betinho 14:30 16:47:30
Heiner Beisel ? 16:51:08
Davis Straub 14:45 16:55:51

You might also try to find results at: http://www.elltel.net/peterandlinda/Wallaby_Open_2003/2003_Wallaby_Main.htm

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