Weather requests...

Today - poor
Tomorrow - better
Sunday - OK

None of it looks stunning, but 2-300km flights should be possible...

Turbo ratings...We are starting to build a head of steam...

Monitoring the e-mail traffic concerning the starting of the turbo's in the air...

Good grief and golly gosh boys and girls...
From the DG400 team...
Our motor has failed to start 10% of the time - well I'm not bloody surprised, it's 20 year old technology that is designed to self-launch.
Lots of stories about prangs in the Sth Is - yip - older motors again...but remember there have been far more prangs in gliders without turbo's, a ratio of about 20:1. And besides that lot in the South Island have bugger all else to talk about...I know, I lived there and it gets pretty slow at times...

More from others...
We should be above 1500ft, we should deploy the landing gear and do pre-landing checks before attempting a practise start...oh for the love of G-d, with the motor out the Duo has a sink rate approaching that of a PW5, what are we suggesting?? That any PW5 pilots should also give away any attempt to fly below 1500ft???

Let's come back to earth for a minute shall we?? (excuse the pun)

Do you want this big thing to go X-Country? Then expect that you'll need to spend time below 1500ft AGL...cos sometimes that's what it takes to find a thermal.

We seem to be putting alot of effort into identifying airstrips...I thought we taught people to find a suitable paddock and land in that. Remember all that stuff about Slope, surface wind, size etc etc.
I'm betting the greatest risk will come from some-one flying to an airstrip identified on the database, getting there, finding it covered in cows, panicking, rushing an engine start and it all turns to custard. It's won't be the turbo at fault, it'll be the reliance on airstrips at fault..

I clearly remember when this glider was in the planning stage talking to the owner of the worlds largest fleet of Duo's (he lives down south, seems to be quite well known), that a turbo would be a mistake;
It would distract people from the real business of flying...
It would reduce the X-country range of the glider because of the height required for a re-start.
It would add cost.
It adds complexity.

We are following the trajectory he predicted...can we prove him wrong???
Otherwise I suggest remove the turbo so we can do some serious X-country flying...

Typical...the year will finish as it started...

With northerlies, rain and low cloud...great for farming, crap for gliding.
Total hours I spent gliding this year - 65. The lowest since 2002.
Admittedly the flying in Feb-Apr last autumn was quite good as it was so dry, but since then it's been dismal.

Other noticeable trends.


Number of land-outs I completed - up
X-Country Kms I completed - down


Number of gliders the local club owns - up
Number of members - down


Costs - up
Total club flying hours - down


Amount of E-mail traffic between members - up
Quality of content - down


Attacks on Free speech - up
Inclusive decision making - down


Number of blogs and facebook pages about gliding - up
Value of content - probably up as well albeit a little patchy


Number of contests I could fly - up (Club Class Nationals)
Number of free days I have to fly in them - down


I'm sure others can add to these trends...

Wed 29th Dec

Dennis Dutton...RIP. Founder of "Arts and Letters Daily", NZ Skeptic's Society, and Prof at Canterbury University.  http://www.aldaily.com/

Weather...

Interesting...an inversion in place as well as sea breezes from lunchtime. Suggestion of high cloud late in the day...especially if the forecast front which passed over yesterday backtracks...we'll see.
Likely to be mostly blue...although if it gets hot enough some clouds will form.
Not many convergences...
If the thermals get going expect bases at 5500ft inland...the squiggly line below is for the McLarens Falls area...inland from Tga.

Good luck...it's all academic to me...we still have silage on the ground from Monday which we need to get finished before Thursday/Friday's rain...which gives you a hint for the flying leading upto New Years.

Something to do while it's raining...

Shag about with the TP files...TP = turnpoint...not total prat...
Have combined Matamata's updated TP file with Taupo's. Labelled the Mta ones with an M at the start whereas the Taupo ones have a T. This way the TP's are sorted by area first then the number. This avoids the overlap of each TP file.

Also have included the airstrips I have some confidence are still use-able.

But beware...farmers put stock on airstrips, fences across them, build cowsheds on them, plough them up for swedes or kale, or generally make life difficult.

Be warned, if fly to a strip expecting to land don't be surprised if you can't...and don't blame the farmer...look inside the cockpit, or in a mirror.

Send me a note if you want a copy...I'll probably update the Duo's TP files on the Oudie's...or is that the oh dears...

Can we go flying??

No - sorry...well maybe...
Today's karput...
Tomorrow might be OK for a while. The front that's passing over at present is forecast to stall and head back down over the top of the Nth Is.
So that'll rule out Thursday and Friday.
Maybe New Years day and the day after.


I'm off to the beach on the 3rd so the chances are getting less by the day.
If it's fine tomorrow we need to finish the silage we started yesterday.

But the big news is it's flooding in Omarama...you know the place where it never rains. They've had about 75mm, but Mt Cook village has had 880mm over the week.
As out intrepid pilots (Roy, Brett and Adrian) head down there they may want to stop to see the Tekapo and Pukaki spillways disgorging huge volumes of water...
I gather they are evacuting the Omarama Camp ground as the Ahuriri rises and rises...any more and it'll threaten the main bridge.

Of Duo's, Xmas and other things...

Another Xmas has come and gone...after 3 turkey dinners I've about eaten enough to fed a small African nation. Kids seem happy...so all's well in the world. Spent Xmas day in Auckland...what a bloody mad-house.

So on the return to Tauranga on Boxing Day we swung past Matamata and managed a short flight in the Duo. I must admit that the current President and partner had been working hard to get the aircraft down and flying...well done there.

First impressions...as always I need to remind myself it flys like a glider...it's white, push the stick forward nose goes down etc etc.

However, it handles slightly better than the older Duo's (as one would hope), the flap/air brake combination is excellent (although people may over speed on approach), it is a bit of a climb to get in the front seat, landing is a piece of cake, and motor is no problem although climb rate is very very slow. Essentially the motor will get you from a blue bit of sky to a cloudy bit...I'm guessing it won't get you over the Kaimai's from Tga on a westerly day...but I guess that's what the tow plane is for.

In the speed to get operating the radio needs some work. In it's current setup I'm not sure we could operate from Tauranga. SeeYou also needs some attention...I'll do that over the coming week.

And after all that I forgot to get a photo...so here's a photo of the glider that started it all...a normal discus...

And the best soaring day this week will be??

Xmas day, of course...

How to make gliding fun...add in lots of low passes, young people and ridge soaring...

Have a look...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFCuDIAjq-Y

Note the beat-ups...sorry competition finishes...in a Duodiscus XL...something for us to practise on a slow day...or any day...

The surpposed "Rebel Soarer" seems to have "petered" out...

No sign of him...now that's not very rebellious...

Ok...enough, you can turn the tap off...

I guess I asked for it...
120mm, no sun and 4 days later it's starting to wear a little thin...
It looks like GNM will be staying in it's box until after Xmas...

Rain til Xmas...

What a great Xmas present. It'll be even more appreciated by those farming in the Waikato/Northland.

I see Mr CAA is now not doing the Duo inspection on the 20th Dec. Why am I not surprised about this???
So the supership will be stuck in Auckland for some time now...I'm guessing until after Xmas.

Sometime over the next week I'll do a "year in review"...or maybe the "winter of discontent"...

It'll be a roller coaster ride of excitement, false hope, outlandish claims, and counter-claims, inciteful observations, gossip, facts and myths, decisive commentary...no it won't, yes it will...well maybe...we'll see.

It'll largely depend on how much rain we get...

It's going to be a long wait...

Until this weather clears...
I gather the Duo is to be available to fly in Matamata Tuesday/Wednesday next week.
Unfortunately the weather looks like it'll be crap...the only hope is it turns more westerly than forecast so the ridge is use-able.

I heard young Alex MacCaw on National Radio yesterday about his 1000km flight on the weekend.
He did better than his famous cousin who was in a Discus 2ctqtx whereas young Alex was in Canterbury's LS4. Well done that man...

I have put a small amount of time (read that as quantum mechanical) into a possible 500km task out of either Tauranga or Piako. It wants to be a thermal day rather than wave...that'd be cheating, and besides I get headaches at high altitudes.

So you'd need to go North towards the Swamp followed by a dash towards the SW (Te Kuiti or Kuratau) followed by???what??.

Here's 2 options. One based fairly much on a westerly day so the Kaimai's gets used as a base to launch off south and north.
The other is a true thermal day that requires a stretch north early on followed by a good look at the Taupo area.

Looks really easy dunnit???

Does RASP do wave???

You betcha...

The 10,000ft wind forecast for 3pm today has wave all over the Nth Is.

The blue bits is air going down, the light blue through to yellow is air going up.

Regulation in the house of Liberal Democracy...

The Soaring Society of the US of A is proposing to strongly encourage the use of Flarms in all contests.
And reading the document I'm guessing that compulsory use will be mandated next season.
Could it be that the SSA didn't mandate immediately because some of their members are Tea Party nutters...(or as they should be referred to "Tea Baggers" and Earl Grey at that...all smell and no strength...)...but I digress again...

This is what can happen if you run into your mate during a contest...

You can move him/her from the Open Class to the Standard Class in a split second. What's more interesting is this aircraft flew for an hour or so to get back to the base airfield AND the glider it hit flew on and completed the task...

Another one bites the dust...

It's proving to be a bad year for gliding contests...the New South Wales State champs have been cancelled due to poor weather after 1 day. That follows the Queensland State Champs being washed out and the Aussie Nationals being equally as successful...not.
So much for Australia being the "big dry"...
I bet the farmers are rubbing their collective hands with glee...although now the problem will be flooding, locusts and a fire risk rather than drought.
We farmers are hard to please...a grumpy, cynical and negative lot...or so some people believe...

Flying around the central Nth Island yesterday it's getting really really dry in most parts. Whakamaru/Atiamuri looks surprisingly similar to 3 years ago when the Multiclass Nationals were held in Matamata. The only difference was that was Feb not Dec.

Roll on the club class nationals...where the weather will be perfect, the tasks long and challanging, the food excellent, the airstrips will be clear of stock, no interference from work calls, and I'll win every day...yeah right.

A change in the weather...

A westerly for the first time in I don't know how long...
And NIWA are forecasting the wettest summer in 21 years...not 22 years or 19 but 21...go figure.
Of course it'll be a wet summer...we have a National gliding contest due in Matamata and the good luck charm, Roy, is Contest Director. Might pay to take a pack of cards, monopoly or a good book to this years contest...

Spotted last night...

So I'm not quite as good as I thought I was...

Many people think that...not least of which is my teenage daughter. How ever I am a supporter of Free Speech and all that...you can never have enough of it...show me a country which has too much free speech!!! But I digress...again.

On Saturday I thought I did OK. I even made the mistake of saying so...on this blog no less. Which resulted in the scorer asking for my track log...
I'm David Todd in another life...well actually he didn't compete on Saturday so the scorer slotted me in under his name. And I was flying my little Discus (without water I might add) rather than David's splendid Kestral 19 meter, so what happened about the handicaps I have No Idea (which is true much of the time)...

But the question we would all like to know is where did Maurice Weaver go??? 274 kms...I can only presume he went to Te Kuiti on the way south.

I still can't beat those superships - Discus 2ct's or Ventus 2Ct's...

What is the Norwest arch???

Taken from 25,000ft...the arch stretched all the way upto the Nth Island. Any guesses who took the photo??? As a hint he seems to spend most of his spare time above 20,000ft.

I am depressed...

Because I've had to cancel a trip to Omarama...bugger. Why would you want to fly in paradise??? See below...

Thanks to GlideOmarama for the photo...

Looking at this I'm guessing cloud base is 11,000ft. You can see air spilling over from the west coast.

More than 1 way to skin a cat...

The fastest 5 tracks from yesterday. I note some-one headed way out towards Te Kuiti...lost perhaps?

Matamata Regionals...better than elsewhere...just

Today was the last day...and probably the day with the best weather.
So the contest flew 3 out of 7 days...fairly poor I hear you say. Keep in mind our criminal friends across the ditch lost the whole of the Queensland State contest to poor weather and most of the Nationals as well.
Also our flatlander friends in the Sth Is achieved 2 days out of 7.
A poor year so far...so we wait with baited breath for the Club Class Nationals in Feb.

As I wasn't a contestant in the regionals this year I flew off the back of the grid today, and without water to practise for the club class. I may, just may, have blitzed the field today. We'll never know...

Low bases at the start and upto Waitoa but really good down south of Tokoroa.

A First for Gliding...

Prize money for a gliding contest. Club Class Nationals...$1000 for 1st place, $500 for 2nd and so on.

Excellent stuff.

Does your glider qualify for the Club Class?
A quick look at the GNZ website shows those gliders with a handicap upto and including 98 do...so that's Discus A/B/CS, ASW 20a and b, but not c, at the top end, down to PW6's or a Twin Astir etc, at the lower end. It includes some weird ones...DG400 in 15 meter configuration (imagine the wing loading - good on a ridge day, death during a week like this week), Janus C but not CM's and so on.

Have a look...does your glider, or one of your club's gliders make the grade??? http://www.gliding.co.nz/racing/information-for-competitors-in-n

This afternoon we had a go at tidying up the turnpoint file for the the Matamata contest area. Deleted a bunch that are now in airspace that we can't use in a contest, but added a heap in the Taupo/Western Bays area. http://www.glidingmatamata.co.nz/msc/2011_club_class_turnpoints/

Guess where we are going during the Nationals...Kuratau here we come...

Contests...A test of skills???

What does the Queensland State Champs, the Aussie Nationals, the Sth Is Regionals and the Northern Regionals have in common?? Crap weather. I'm saving up my spare time for next week, as the week after a contest is always better....
I'm meant to be over there tomorrow to help out...
These pictures from the LS4 driver...

Waiting waiting waiting...

This looks suspiciously like Wharepapa Sth...