Friday 30 January 2009

OCL 949 points!!!

from OLC 949 points
http://www3.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?flightId=568160830

Flight information - alojz maros (0) - 29.01.2009
Type of glider: DuoBanjo, Take-off location: Corowa Rwx Gld (AU/ VIC)

Points for the flight: 949.29 (GFA-DCE Cat 0 Summer Event)
scoring distance: 794.92 km
Speed: 106.1 km/h
Duration: 07:29:33
Scoring class: club
Index: 80.0
Club: Prievidza
Date of claim: 29.01.2009 10:09:34

http://www.profe.cz/airplanes/duobanjo/performance-airplane.html

DuoBanjo - Performance
Stall speed 64 km/h
Maneuver speed Va 130 km/h
Max. speed in turbulence Vb 130 km/h
Max. speed Vne 175 km/h
Min. sink (at 90 km/h) 0,9 m/s
Best L/D (at 100 km/h) 29
Cruise speed (5000 rpm) 110 km/h
Max. climb 3 m/s
Load factor + 4.4 / - 2.4 G


Takes some real doing.

EY

Thursday 29 January 2009

Watch this space

Dave Mortimer, Chairman of SSSA, has asked Carol Clifford to advise you the following - please inform all relevant members of your club/s. So Carol suggests we wait for a further email communication after their meeting:-
" I am getting calls daily on our ARO status with particular reference to Motorgliding and can only tell you that SSSA has an agreement in place until the 12th Feb 2009. However we have a meeting with CAA scheduled for the 2nd. Feb and only after that will we able to tell our members what to expect regarding the regulation of Motorgliding."

what more can I say?

Monday 26 January 2009

Contest results

The final tally in the Chilean Qualifying GP


1. Uli Schwenk Alemania 37
2. Tilo Holighaus Germany 26
3. Thomas Gostner Italia 24

with Uli and Tilo going through to the final.

Thanks to Elke for the commentary (and, when i get the time, i am going to watch the races - at http://www.rockitg.com/chile/index.html )

Down under they have finished, and the results are

Champions
Standard class
1. Peter Temple ASC 7636
2. Tom Gilbert Temora 7065
3. Tobias Geiger GCV 6964
15-Metre
1. John Buchanan Kingaroy 7942
2. Miles Gore-Brown Kingaroy 6976
3. David Pietsch Temora 6816
18-Metre
1. Graham Parker ASC 7683
2. David Jansen Kingaroy 7507
3. Bruce Taylor Kentucky 7443
Open class
1. Paul Mander/ David McManus 6645
2. Dion Weston 6211
3. Gerrit Kurstjens 5744

(it could not have been easy if someone like Bruce Taylor places third. )

EY

Friday 23 January 2009

Post script

Tilo added this comment to his OLC flight claim

"This was for Mauricio Perez. In the Briefing the task was called Mauricio-Perez-Task and I'm touched that I could finish this special task. "

We salute both of you

EY

Remarkable day 4 at Chilean QGP

The second time in this contest only one pilot makes it home. Much like R3 was shrouded in a storm in the last nationals, the second turnpoint was placed beyond the reach of all but Tilo Holighausen. He went round and the remainder of the field went down. Elke Schwenk's postings http://www.uli-schwenk.de/index.php?page=news makes for compelling reading as the drama unfolds.

the official website http://www.grandprixchile2009.org/ posting captures it all:

"Like Moses parting the waters of the Red Sea, Tilo Holighaus (GER) was the only one to succesfully handle the showers that covered 15 km before TP Central to TP Copin in the north. The problem for the rest of the pilots was that the waters closed right before VV's tail. Carlos Rocca (CHI) was pulled from the sky in -7 m/s downdrafts, even using the same way Tilo flew.
Tilo arrived in great style, looping his glider once after the finish line. After his succesful flight we was interviewed live by Nick Farrel, but it turned out to be a plot masterminded by all other pilots, in which he landed in the Clubs swimming pool. Unable to part the pools water, he was then interviewed live for all our online tracking audience.
"Team Germany" is leading the competition, with Uli Schwenk accumulating 20 points and Tilo Holighaus 16 points.Carlos Rocca (CHI) is in third position with 13 points."


EY

Thursday 22 January 2009

a wonderful sky



Credit und Bildrechte: Chris Picking (Starry Night Skies Photography)



.. it is a wonderful sport we have, to be able to fly in skies such as this


EY

Tuesday 20 January 2009

Chilean QGP day 3

The results are
1.- Uli Schwenk2.- Tilo Holighaus3.- Thomas Gostner
with the winning speed at 132kph down to 60kph and some outlandings.
It places Uli in a commanding position after three days.
His wife's reporting is superb and makes for compelling reading. The start time seems to be set at 15h00GMT so if you have broadband at home, try the tracking!!
Also see the video footage and pictures and reporting at http://grandprixchile2009.blogspot.com/

the finish line as at 150m and for every meter below there is a 5 second penalty. The ETA would have incurred a 745 (ie 12 minute 25 second!!!) penalty for yesterday's beat up!!

EY

Monday 19 January 2009

Beat up

Do you want to try this?

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2s14v_passage-du-planeur-eta_extreme

EY

Chilean QGP - Day 1

It was a magical flight, concluded with an ovation by his fellow competitors, all of whom had by then been retrieved. Uli Schwenk was the only finisher on day one of the Chilean GP. His wife, Elke, has a running commentary at http://www.uli-schwenk.de/index.php?page=news, but you have to be able to follow the German.
Live tracking available using Silent Wings viewer - the terrain file is huge 1.8gig!!
Day 2 was1. Foltin, 2. Schwenk, 3. Rocca, 4. Holighaus, 5. Kaufmann, 6. Gostner, 7. Gaude, 8.Errazuriz,9. Rodriguez, 10. Janssen, according to Elke, but no published results on the official website?

Back home, Jonker Sailplanes are well advanced with the development of their (dual) jet engined JS1! see http://www.jonkersailplanes.co.za/jetsustainer.htm

EY

Friday 16 January 2009

QGP Chile

this trace from practice day 1 in the Qualifying Grand Prix, Chile from Tilo Holighaus
http://www3.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?flightId=-596277291
the website is at http://www.grandprixchile2009.org/
racing is from 17 to 24

Looks like real fun

EY

A water landing

NEW YORK REGION January 16, 2009 US Airways Crew Is Credited for Nimble Reaction By MATTHEW L. WALD From early indications, it appears the pilot handled the river landing with aplomb and avoided major injuries.

"Airliners are not meant to glide, although occasionally they have to. The pilot of this one, Capt. Chesley B. Sullenberger III, is certified as a glider pilot, according to Federal Aviation Administration records."

Tuesday 13 January 2009

A short cut with a difference ...

Pilot likely faked distress13/01/2009 07:59 - (SA)

Milton, Florida - An Indiana businessman whose financial management companies were under investigation apparently made a fake distress call, bailed out of his small plane and then let it crash in a Florida panhandle swamp.
Authorities searched on Monday for Marcus Schrenker after he made the distress call and apparently secretly parachuted to safety near Birmingham, Alabama. His single-engine plane continued flying on autopilot and eventually crashed late on Sunday more than 322km away in a swampy area of the Florida Panhandle.
In the weeks before the crash, Schrenker's life was spiralling downward: He lost a half-million-dollar judgment against one of his companies when he skipped a court hearing. His wife filed for divorce, and investigators probing his businesses for possible securities violations searched his home and office.
Authorities believe Schrenker was last seen on Monday morning in Childersburg, Alabama, just south of Birmingham, when a man using his Indiana driver's licence told police that he'd been in a canoe accident. He was wet only from the knees down and had what appeared to be goggles made for flying.
The investigation into the crash began on Sunday night, when Schrenker's single-engine Piper Malibu crashed in a swampy area of north Florida.
The plane was en route from Anderson, Indiana, to the Florida Panhandle city of Destin when Schrenker reported turbulence. He said the windshield had imploded and he was bleeding profusely, according to the sheriff's office in Santa Rosa County, where the plane crashed.
After he stopped responding to air traffic controllers, military jets tried to intercept the plane. They noticed the door was open and the cockpit was dark and continued to follow it until it crashed in a bayou surrounded by homes.
'It could have taken out two or three houses'
But when investigators found the plane, its door was ajar and the wreckage showed no signs of blood or the blown windshield. The sheriff's office said Schrenker appeared to have intentionally abandoned his plane.
Bill and Debbie Timbie, whose house is less than 100 yards from where the plane crashed, were home on Sunday night when they heard the jets flying overhead. Bill Timbie gave rescuers looking for the downed plane a ride through the swamp in his canoe.
"Now, after you think about it, it could have been real bad, it could have taken out two or three houses," he said on Monday.
The case grew stranger on Monday morning, when the man with Schrenker's licence told police in Childersburg - about 362km from where the plane crashed - that he'd been in a canoe accident with friends.
The officers, unaware of the plane crash, took him to a hotel. He was gone by the time they returned. They learned he had paid for his room in cash before putting on a black cap and running into the woods next to the hotel.
Authorities in Indiana have said little about the nature of the investigation into Schrenker's businesses - Heritage Wealth Management Inc, Heritage Insurance Services Inc and Icon Wealth Management - wealth management companies that provide financial advice. Jim Gavin, a spokesperson for Indiana's secretary of state, said investigators are looking at possible securities violations, and officers who searched Schrenker's home on December 31 were looking for laptops, computers, notes, photos and other documents related to those companies.
Court records show his wife, Michelle, filed for divorce a day before the searches.
Gavin said the Indiana Securities Division obtained a temporary restraining order on Monday freezing the personal assets of Marcus Schrenker and Michelle Schrenker and the assets of the three companies.
- AP

Monday 12 January 2009

A clip of flying a storm front

It starts of with the front approaching the airfield and then switches to the actual flying ...

... there are some pictures of the storm front as it approached the airfield - which i posted earlier (around "back - just in time") (and also some of the stormfront i flew in on the rest day)

EY

A final word on the SA Nationals

I hope you all enjoyed the photographs i posted. It was a lot easier for me to take the photo's with my Sony Ericson K800i and immediately blog them than to write a bit every evening on a dodgy internet connection. Finally i enclose the certificate awarded to Robert Roland (Bobby) Clifford for his 50th Nationals - surely a record of some note.


... and now it is back to work.
EY

Wednesday 7 January 2009

Sunday 4 January 2009