Sunday, December 29, 2013

A view from afar...

A few observations from chilly Canada;
It's minus 15 outside...just a few degrees colder than home.
However it's not pouring down with rain...I see 55mm's on the farm in the last 24 hours.
In the same time frame we had 20mm's of snow down here in the valley and 100mm's up in the hills.

Good wave off the hills to the west of us yesterday...in fact there are hills in all directions.
Taking off and landing could be a challange...the Banff airstrip is under a foot of snow.
Even Calgary airport could be a challange...I had to drive back into Calgary today to swap cars...it was snowing and blowing...I'd guess 10-20 cms fell on the city overnight.

In the local town I came across an updated Spot Tracker...with a phone attached. In fact its really a Sat Phone with a spot tracker attached.
The monthly cost is high but it does show where the technology might be going.

I'm watching the Nationals from here...not a good start...raining...but what else would you expect for a gliding contest.



Sunday, December 1, 2013

On the morrow

Looks like the forecast was about right...
You are bound to get one right sooner or later....

Saturday, November 30, 2013

A forecast just for Keith

Understandable given he has 17-20 ATC kids to fly tomorrow..

This front should move off the country overnight.
SW winds tomorrow.
Reasonably unstable air.

If you get started at 9am it should be a bit easier than later in the day when the wind and thermals should get up a bit.

The twist will be how much high cloud floats about.
The NOAA sqiggly lines graph shows quite a bit...therefore the RASP will over call the day.

The thermals will be a bit broken but if the high cloud breaks then expect 5-6 knots in good places.

15 knots on the ground at times but straight down 04/22.
Good for managing larger groups.

Good luck young grasshopper....

How to utilise your Saturday to the max....

Doing my duty instructor day.
Turned up first.
No trial flights or instruction booked.
Waited.
2 members turned up so we rigged all the gliders that no-one else had had the time to do. Thanks Scott, Olly and John.
Taped and DI 'd said gliders...
Washed said gliders...
Waited.
Went and brought a spade handle...brought a hot sausage...
Waited.
Read some work papers...
Waited.
It's now 1 pm and I'd rather be swimming...
And the day looks like this....

 
and we had this weapon at hand...



Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Nth Is Regionals

They are underway...how do we know this???
Because the results are being posted on Soaring Spot.
http://www.soaringspot.com/nznr2013/
You don't have to navigate through the NZ Gliding main page to find out...and you don't have to wait until some-one else prompts you to go looking...word of mouth really.

I've said it before...and I'll say it again...to my comrades in Omarama...you really really really should move into the 21st century and post your results on the universally accepted central website for contests - here, there and everywhere (except the US of A - where perhaps the Homeland Act requires their results to be posted with the NSA...who would know).

So WHY should the mountain men use Soaring Spot???

Because then other people might find out what's happening down there.
I know you think it's paradise and I know many believe it's the centre of the universe BUT the rest of us do take an interest in what's happening down there...

So to the local contest. 23 entries...not bad.
No South Island contestants however I think 3 or 4 flatlanders travelled down to the Sth Is Regionals.

I see a contestant called Melissa Jenkins won Day 1 in the 15 meter class. I think that's the first time a female pilot has a won a day for some time. Outstanding.
We do have a contest pilot called Tracy Austin...but she's a bloke...who flies one of the best gliders ever built...GNM.

Looking outside I suspect today will be a no fly day.

Monday, November 18, 2013

South Island Regionals

Yes they have started...
You wouldn't know it if used SoaringSpot as means of following gliding contests (as 99.999% of glider pilots do...except those in the Mainland). Oh...actually the Americians don't in many cases either but that's hardly a compelling reason given they still measure distance in inches or pounds or some quaint unit...
I seem to remember that buried in the excellent report that Ralph Henderson wrote after the Nationals held in Omarama last summer...was the comment that the results need to be posted to SoaringSpot.

However if you want to experience the good old days...lets do the timewarp again -

And if some-one could suggest how I turn the "text" tracklogs into a "igc" file so I again re-play them in SeeYou it would be much appreciated. I just got to know how Trev Terry in a Duo beat Grae in a Ventus 2cxt....

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Friday's convergence

As expected a warm day and little opposing wind saw the sea air push inland.
It stalled at about 4pm 20-25 kms inland.

Thursday, November 14, 2013

The RASP!!!

It proved rather less than accurate last week.
As did metservice.

However a quick look at this mornings RASP indicates a large convergence from the Waikato all the way down pass Mt Ruapehu.
7-9000ft cloud bases and 7 knot climbs.
Very little over-development.
A converging sea breeze from the west coast colliding with the light S to Se winds.
We will see.

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Two poo...or perhaps the Central Plateau Contest

Thanks to Taupo Gliding Club for yet again hosting another fun week.

Points to note;
The weather didn't quite live upto its normal standard.

My older Duo, which is a re-build from various bits and bobs, is clearly much faster than the clubs flash new Duo XLT...and a JS1 as well...

Weather forecasting is a Black Art. I under called one day and over called two others.

On the plus side I had to exit the contest for 2 days as work got in the way and had thought I'd miss at least 1 great day of flying...both days were write offs...good for me...not so for others.

Day 1 saw a pilot of huge experience part with his little Discus, having owned it for 27 years (that's longer than I've had to tolerate children), and drive off with an 18 meter Ventus. It's trend we might see more of as the standard/15 class slowly dwindles away. It could take 20 years to dwindle away all the same. Which provides some lucky club the chance of acquiring a mighty Discus B. In my humble opinion the best single seat glider a club can own. Easy fly, rig and maintain. Still competitive in the standard and club class. Lots of room. No vices in the air.

On a day that was too hard to task due to the uncertainty of holding the fleet up around the start area, the organisers allowed free flying and scored the day on the OLC. What a brilliant idea...especially since yours truely managed to win the day!!!

I was beaten on the last day by my old Discus GNM. Fantastic.

All my Co-pilots were great, none were air-sick (quite the achievement for me), and I hope everyone had fun...I did.

Sleeping in a tent was better than I remember it...although the fireworks on the last night was an added extra we could have done without.

I've decided I'm getting older. The climb up Mt Tauhara took 60 minutes...that's 10 minutes slower than 2 years ago...bugger.

Tauranga is now 4th on the inter-club NZ online contest. I'm finished flying for the meantime (due to a calling to investigate Canada's ski-fields), so it's up to the rest of you...mentioning no names. Remember it's distance that matters, not time in the air.

Its way way cheaper flying in Taupo than Omarama. I paid $420 total for the contest...entry fee, tows etc. That's about one days worth down south. Yes I know the flying in the mountains is really really great but the difference in cost is starting to get out of hand...I think.

It's so hot today I commissioned our pool and went for a swim...a short swim...


Another Duo on task...albeit a much slower one...
 
 
See slower...and lower...OK enough showing off...luck played a big part.
 
 
A very bad photo of Huka Falls

 
A nice evening as a thunder storm departs the task area.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Tauranga finally on the OLC

After getting a suggestion we keep a spreadsheet of the distances flown from Tauranga (how 2000's is that!!)...I decided it was time to get the local club on the OLC.
Anyone can log a flight...it's really easy. In fact with the SeeYou Recorder App on an iPhone or Android its even easier...however those of us with Microsoft Phone 8 phones (duh) it requires a few extra steps.
So we have a couple of flights up and hopefully more to come.
Remember X-Country soaring is about distance NOT time in the air...
For the record in 2009/10 we flew 11,000kms out of Tga.

Taupo awaits...

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Hardly a weekend of Labour

Far from it...

My first proper thermal flight since last season.


Given I was taking the Duo I needed ballast and a front seat passenger. Found a delightful young chap from Aviation Sports Auckland. He'd only completed 7 previous flights in his training schedule, and from the look of it he'd be lucky to get any flying during the day due to the level of activity about the airfield.
Are you prepared for a 3 hour flight? Yip.
Do you have to be back by any set time? No...great cos we could land-out...
Do you get air-sick? No...well we fixed that...somewhere in forest between Tokoroa and Mangakino is a big bag of sick.

So off we went...South. Judging from the bleating on the radio North wasn't anywhere as good.

We should have gone further but for a first day out it wasn't too bad.
At one point we had 3 Duo's in the Mangakino area. GTT, GXT and GYL.



The young chap "in-command". Surprising good for a Year 11 student.

Also near Tokoroa

Mangakino.

Sunday, October 20, 2013

I haven't forgotten..

Just been a bit distracted...
When some one suggested today that the blog had been taken down by the "dark side" I thought I better get back to it.

Flew today. Even convinced the "better half" to come flying.
I thought it was going to be blue...and it was in the Bay of Plenty...but in the Waikato it was a bit better.
Ran into Team Drury heading for Tirau and home. Really good to see experienced X-country pilots from Auckland being encouraged to take the Duo (GDX) for the day to mentor and coach newer members.
Duo's are made for that.
And I'm increasingly convinced that the best way to retain and encourage "post-solo" pilots is to foster X-country flying. It's distance flown NOT time in the air that is important.

Team NZ are competing in the Ozzie Nationals. Doing OK. Steve Wallace claimed a second today. Well done.
Here's the website if you haven't already found it.
News from the contest is a bit thin on the ground...that or I haven't stumbled across it yet.

http://www.soaringspot.com/ausmulti52/

Excuse the quality of the photos...it was a phone camera.

See there was thermals in the Waikato...


But it was blue in the BoP.

Who's that lurking in the back seat...

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Good golly miss molly...

on Sunday I actually went flying. I could even remember how to rig the Duo. And guess what...when I pushed the stick forward the nose went down...just like last year.
A ridge day but with a nice 5 knot thermal climb that got us out to the Waikato River.

I did take some photos of the JS1 but it looks so so tiny in the photo that I'll need to do some photo-shopping to do it justice.

So I suppose I now have my Duo rating for the summer.

Planning on taking it down to Taupo for the Central Plateau blat.






Friday, August 9, 2013

Self-launcher

But not the one you were expecting...

 
 
This morning the US announced it had undertaken 2 more Drone strikes in the Yemen.
Up to nine suspected al-Qaida militants had been killed.
Good news to some perhaps...

However the key word in this press release is "suspected"...
Suspected by who? Suspected of doing what? Will we ever know if the "suspected bit" was even fact? Were the nine really al-Qaida members or just opponents of the Yemeni Government? If so can I call in a drone strike on the Green Party?

And even if the nine were "militants" it still raises other issues;
The Columbia Law School's Human Rights Institute estimate that up to 50 civilians are killed for every 1 militant killed in a drone strike. So could the press release be re-worded to "450 mothers and children killed along with 9 suspected militants in todays Drone strikes" ?

What ever happened to the "Rule of Law" and "habeas corpus"??? Innocent until proven guilt??

Western Governments are given license to defend their populations...but using unmanned aircraft in a third world countries with dubious governments (which are being propped up by the US) to kill villagers, seems a very long bow to draw...

The Nobel Committee saw fit to give Obama a peace prize...is this what they envisaged?

And lastly, these drone strikes are being seen as grossly unjust and unfair by the local populations subjected to this abuse and so how many more young men are motivated to join the likes of al-Qaida as a result?

I suspect my neighbour is abusing his wife...can I call in a drone strike?? Of course not. I call the police who undertake an investigation and bring a case to court. The chap is arrested and brought before his peers. The facts are presented for all to see and jury of his peers and/or a judge decides. That is the Rule of Law".

Update - 9 days on and the Yemeni Gov't issued a press statement disputing claims 9 civilians had been killed in the Drone strikes and that "most" of those killed where suspected militants. So, firstly, some of those killed were in fact civilians, and secondly, after 9 days the Gov't hasn't been able to confirm that the others were militants at all. But 9 days is a long time and the bet will be we have forgotten about these poor unfortunate individuals...until the next time.

Back to gliding next...sorry.

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Bit by little bit...

CAA have caved in to the request from Australian airlines and lowered the airspace over Mt Cook to accommodate flights originating out of Oz heading for Sth America.
Despite overwhelming objections from glider pilots about the desire to maintain a freedom to operate we are now constrained to FL245...for now.

Interesting note in the ruling is the claim that further reductions will be required in the future for Turbo-prop flights...I assume out of Queenstown heading for Auckland.

I'll give the US of A some credit...they seem free of these encroachments on publicly owned airspace.


Just watch one of Bruno Vassel's flights in the Utah area. 18,000ft without any need to talk to the fun police. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hze9WUSlzxk
They seem to be able to do this despite the vastly greater volumes of flying buses...and I mean really seriously greater volumes of flying heavy metal. I spent a season skiing in Utah (a miss spent youth) and you could always see 5-10 vapour trails in the sky at any time...and therefore you could assume a whole lot more at lowers levels as well.
Here in the land of the long white cloud you are lucky to see one IFR per hour or even per day.
There is something rotten in the state of Denmark people....

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Rumours...updated...

It appears that yet another club is in the throws of changing from a big, old, smelly, loud, fuel hungry Piper type tow plane to something lighter, smaller, newer, quieter and considerably more fuel efficient.

You could almost say that if you had any doubts about the future of your Pawnee/Cub you'd better get it on the market quick before there's a flood.

Also here is a link to a neat little video that a local member produced before the fun police turned up...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs681rB3aMQ

While I'm at it...here's a clip from the good old US of A...a couple of low passes at a gliding site in an ASW27...pass 1 is good BUT pass 2 is really testing the boundaries... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuptAQrwZZk ...I'm just imagining the outcome of doing that in NZ... We were once an adventurous, free-spirited nation where people set out to climb big mountains...maybe not now.

Oh, and on a different matter...sometimes you can beat the Cardigan wearers...this from the "GAA" site,
"The meddling by CAA with the NZTA medical for recreational pilot licence holders is effectively at an end. It has taken since February, but pilots now have an excellent result."
Read the rest, as well as the history behind the drama, here... http://www.caa.gen.nz/?p=3098

Monday, July 15, 2013

Rumour has it...

That a micro-light has become the leading option for yet another clubs primary towing aircraft.
It was either spend heaps on re-powering a big old Pawnee or look for something new.
We already have one club totally committed to using a Micro-light/LSA as the tow-plane of choice.

This is becoming a bit of a trend.
And why would one be surprised...what with most of us still using aircraft designed and built before the war, that cost a fortune to maintain, use gas like a Sherman tank, and make plenty of noise...

Times are a changing...

And then...and then...after I'd written this I went off for a 10 minute surf to see if there are any new gliding Video's posted - and guess what...a neat video of a Libelle flying somewhere in the Alps in Europe...A Libelle...how can that be interesting???

Ahh...no ordinary Libelle...it has bright red winglets...AND...bug wipers!!! That has got to be a first...
http://vimeo.com/70145532
Really well edited all the same...I think we forget that sticking a GoPro to the wing of your glider and going flying is the easy part. Good editing is still time consuming and a skill.

Actually we have been banned from sticking camera's to club gliders...the fun police have been about.
Pity really, it added to the sports promotion.
You can see it now...a bunch of younger people comparing cool video clips of their sport (base jumping, skiing, moto-cross etc) while the budding glider pilot hides under the table..."where's your video clip bro???"...umm the old codgers won't let me use the camera...

Thursday, July 11, 2013

PowerFlarm...

This e-mail turned up this morning. An interesting read. (thanks to David Scott for thinking of passing it on and to the author Bruce from Canada)
We here in the North Island are probably lagging behind this debate. However for Flarm to work you need a critical mass of gliders equipped or else it's just an expensive power hungry lump of electronics's...a bit like a transponder really.
As for PowerFlarm...it might be useful in areas with lots of flying buses and VFR power chaps with their heads inside the cockpit relying on Airways for separation...Tauranga perhaps.
More data is probably required on power consumption, accuracy and pilot behavioural change.
However, if the owner of GlideOmarama is to be believed, he won't tow gliders at future contests unless they are equipped with Flarm.
I must admit that flying north along the Two Thumb Range with dust blowing off the upper reaches of the Godley River, and gliders going in and out of the turnpoint, it was very very difficult to see approaching gliders...at a combined closing speed of 200 knots plus.


Dear ESC Friends,

 

Being out of town, and unable to "reply" to my shaw email, I missed out on the recent PowerFlarm dustup, or at least I missed out on the opportunity to stick my oar in and say something I would regret.

 

I am now, however, able to provide a User Report on the PowerFlarm.  

 

Here is a photo of the Discus and me, with the PowerFlarm portable unit prominent on the top of the glare shield, with its distinctive twin antennas.  From what I have read, the Schempp-Hirth gliders allow the easiest and cleanest installation, since the whole unit including vertical antennas fit under the canopy.  My unit is an early portable version, and has not yet had the most recent hardware and software upgrades.  The portable has a small (1.5 inch?) screen which in this installation has a prominent place in the pilot's vision.  It displays the location of each target acquired and its relative altitude.  The unit has a speaker, which issues audible warnings:   alerts for proximity, and more urgent noises when it has computed a collision course.  I have the PowerFlarm connected to the Oudie soaring computer, running LK8000, which also displays the locations of targets on a larger screen, plus relative climb rate.

 

At the Ephrata contest, about 25 of the 30 gliders participating were PowerFlarm equipped.

There are, of course, positives and negatives.  I will start with the negatives.

 

  • In a large pre-start gaggle - 5 or 10 gliders in one thermal within a total of 1000' of altitude, I allocated zero scan time to the PowerFlarm.  My eyes were outside.  The unit was frequently issuing alerts.  As if I needed any encouragement to be alert.  Well, to be honest, one can become even more alert - it did have that effect on me - but other than that the information was more scary than helpful.
  • Transponder data is very fuzzy - it tells you range to target is decreasing but not the direction from which it is coming.  
    • This was the main reason for the net negative contribution from PowerFlarm in large gaggles.  If I had had the power, I would have insisted all gliders turn off their transponders in the pre-start period.
    • It was "disconcerting" to be looking out the window, spotting guys over there, up there, down there, and having the unit making very urgent noises.
  • Transponders show up as an additional aircraft.  One day, coming back at the end of the day, I found myself in a thermal with another glider.  I could see him there, perfectly positioned on the other side of the thermal, just a little below me, consistent with the Flarm display.  Except the PowerFlarm was showing two other aircraft, both "-02", or 200 feet below me.  I could see one, where was the other?  And the unit was making quite a racket.  That evening I had a chat with the other pilot, confirmed there were only two of us, and confirmed he had a transponder switched on plus a PowerFlarm.
  • The PowerFlarm is not reliable.  Frequently I saw a target, e.g. 800 feet below and to the right rear.  And then it disappeared.   Where did it go?  My conclusion was my unit was almost blind to aircraft directly behind me.  Antenna issues are a challenge.  Therefore, the PowerFlarm does not replace the window.
  • People found it disconcerting to see a bunch of gliders in the landing pattern area.  Turns out if you land, clear the runway, and leave the unit running, it looks like a glider beside the runway.  Well, duh!  And there is an altitude readout.  Except if you get too many of them, the data displayed steps all over itself, and anyways it is hard to figure out when there are a bunch of targets.  The morning pilot meeting safety tips repetitively included calls to switch off the Flarm as soon as possible.
  • It is a sensor.  Like any sensor, it has some accuracy and some precision.  A reading of 200 foot separation can mean zero separation - all that would take is a mis-calibration of one or both units, well within the error margin for the technology.  You can't trust it to be exact.

 

Positives:

 

  • The PowerFlarm does indeed provide a heads up when there are other gliders nearby, usually.  I found this most helpful in situations such as:
    • another glider joins you in a thermal far enough below you that the pilot does not feel the need to join on the far side - can be below or below and behind.  You know he/she is there.
    • you hit a thermal, swing in to the core, and only then notice there is someone a thousand feet above you - perhaps hard to spot against the cloud above him.  Then you start gaining on him (well, sometimes).  perhaps you need to reverse your turn.
    • you are thermaling away, and then notice a couple of gliders half a mile away - they are in a different core, and circling the other way.
  •  O.K. you should always see all the other gliders.  Well, no, you don't.  At least, I don't - I now know that for a fact.  And all the other pilots I spoke to were willing to make the same admission.  No, it doesn't replace the window, but it does add information.
  • It is fun to be able to watch whether the folks in the next core over are doing better or worse than you.
  • It is extremely interesting to watch the separation between you and the person below you in the same thermal shrinking.  Clearly, at some point, that glider will become very important.  Perhaps you can't see it; you now know you need to find it, whatever that takes
  • It is an OLC valid logger.
  • It can feed glide computers, which can then do very interesting things like tell you who in the vicinity has the best thermal.
  • It does display not only other PowerFlarm equipped gliders, but also ADIS-B and PCAS (transponder equipped) aircraft.  The complaints above about transponders relate solely to gliders carrying both units - power planes with transponders will show up, and that is a huge benefit.

 

In summary:

  • I found the PowerFlarm a valuable assistant at Ephrata.  It added information.  It showed me things I hadn't seen, or seen yet.
  • I found it most useful when dealing with one or two or perhaps three other targets within a mile or two.  In other words, in the environment one finds around a field such as Chipman on a lovely afternoon.
  • In normal flying, I added it to my scan.  Sitting on top of my glare shield, it is perfectly placed to be one stop in a horizontal scan.  I found myself, as I rolled in to a thermal, starting my scan as far over my shoulder as possible, as usual, scanning across the horizon to try to spot any "company" already in that thermal - and as my scan traversed across dead ahead it was a piece of cake to see if there were any "targets" on the PowerFlarm screen.  I carried on, completed the scan, without actually "reading" what was on the screen, then, if there was data on the PowerFlarm screen, came back to it to actually read the numbers and compass direction of the target, to establish direction and relative altitude.  Seeing nothing there was encouraging (my unit seems pretty reliable when banked into a thermal, no blind spots that I could tell).  The time required to include one additional stop in the scan I was making anyways, and to shift focus for that one stop, was, in my experience minimal and manageable. 
  • Other than that I rarely even glanced at it.  But it would have squawked if it had computed a collision course.  Therefore, one legitimate option is to relegate it to solely that audible warning device role, and still gain considerable safety benefit.  In other words, speculation the PowerFlarm would be a net safety negative - because attention to it would compete with/decrease attention to more important or effective tasks - is, in my experience, not correct.  A valid concern, but, in my experience, not true.
  • I never looked at the PowerFlarm data on the flight computer; I never used the LK8000 extension of the data provided by the PowerFlarm.
  • It was apparent the better PowerFlarm installations, with the "Brick" unit and better antennas, were better than mine.
  • At Ephrata, flying without a PowerFlarm was almost socially unacceptable.  At the morning pilots' meetings, and in numerous smaller-group discussions, there were many comments along the lines, "if you don't have a PowerFlarm, I'd rather you don't lurk along behind me", and "if you don't have a PowerFlarm, please find your own thermal".  It was not brutal, or nasty, or "excluding".  However, it was clear: that particular group of experienced sailplane pilots were convinced, as individuals, that PowerFlarm is a net safety benefit.

 

I would be happy to expand on any of these comments, or answer any questions, to the whole group or in private email exchanges.

 

Cheers

 

Bruce

Friday, June 28, 2013

The shortest day - 3 times in one year

This years shortest day has just passed...I now realise that I'll experience 3 shortest days in 12 months.
I plan to be in Banff Canada on the 21st December and back in Kiwiland next winter.

By that time I expect to be a poor imitation of an Eskimo...

Hopefully we will get to experience the Northern Lights - Aurora Borealis

Monday, June 24, 2013

A win and a loss

It appears that finally this nonsense of turning off electronic devices for take off and landing is being reviewed with a view to scrapping it. Frankly using my Ipad or cell phone while taking off or landing my glider has never affected the planes nav systems...oh wait where has that airfield gone...
A working group assigned by the Federal Aviation Administration to research the use of electronics on airplanes is expected to recommend relaxing the ban on portable devices during takeoff and landing.

However in a twist the cardy wearers (CASA) has.. "CASA has confirmed that pilots will need to comply with the regulations of CASR 21.M to install "GoPro" type cameras on the external surface of an aircraft."
Plonkers.

Monday, June 10, 2013

Sitting and talking

Yip...it is AGM time again.
Gliding NZ holds it's AGM in Wellington.
Held over 2 days to allow time for Sailplane Racing, Club Presidents and others to meet and talk on the Saturday and the actual AGM to be held Sunday morning.
It feels a bit like a "Union" meeting with delegates and voting and procedures but rules and history dictates...

However the stand-out hour was a presentation on how to address declining membership.
As I have mentioned on here before declining membership of gliding clubs is equally matched by declining membership in many sports. The day I spent with SportNZ attested to this.

However it could be argued that we (Gliding in NZ) don't have too much of a challenge enticing people through the front door ...the problem is shortly afterwards they exit out the back door ...usually just after they have gone "solo".

A survey carried out by our friends in the Northern Hemisphere of 3000 pilots suggested that the reason pilots stay involved in the sport is X-country flying...and maybe by extension contests. It's not because it gives you a reason to wear a silly floppy white hat...

There was much much more in this presentation but a condensed version is due in the SoaringNZ mag...so perhaps we should wait for that.

The Field-days beckon...apparently farmers are expected to be spending up bigtime...so I will be seeking out the most expensive short black on offer (coffee that is)...

Monday, June 3, 2013

Why painting things on your glider is not a good idea...

This chap painted shark jaws on the front of his glider...looked quite cool...just. Remembering of course, that the gap between looking "cool" and looking like a "dickhead" is quite small...(just ask Aaron Gilmore).

 
Here is a video of the "shark" flying along some coastal area in the UK.
This is really cool...no dickheads to be seen.
Although if this is representative of an English summer by the beach it's no wonder they invaded hot countries in the Middle East...however that doesn't explain the Falklands...strategic sheep purposes perhaps...

Sadly his shark when swimming...
Read it here...
http://soaringcafe.com/2013/06/swimming-with-a-shark/

Ouch is all I can say...

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Flying suspended...Why?


I've broken yet another bone...I think this makes 17 or 18.
There must be a message in this...

Sadly it wasn't broken in the pursuit of something great or altruistic...no it was the result of too much office work...
This is what happens when your foot goes to "sleep" and then you attempt to dash out the door...

It might even interfere with the coming ski season...

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

3 into 1

I'd not seen this before...trial flights that squeeze 2 punters into the backseat.
I was aware of a triple fatality in the US that involved a mother and wee child in the backseat...
However this company offers a 3 up experience in Hawaii...
3 in a Duo...perhaps not.
CAA would have kittens...


Reprint from a Herald aricle  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/news/article.cfm?c_id=7&objectid=10881870

Sunday, April 28, 2013

I must be getting old...

Younger people are so so much more enthusastic...
5 days of Youth glide 2013 was good fun...

People wanted to beat each others times on the ridge, we had a new record set (womens 100km out and return), we had a land-out in a Janus, lots of circuits, lots of helpers to rig and de-rig gliders...a desire to get double tow ratings etc etc

All great stuff. And all this with fairly average gliding conditions...

Ideas...like running a youth contest alongside the multi-class nationals...a good use for PW5's...

It's hugely encouraging to sit in the back seat of a Duo while a 16 year old pre-solo pilot averages 166 kph on the 100km Speed Task.

So that's about it for me this season...only 70 hours...of which only 5 were at Tauranga.
Mile stones...sold a DiscusCS, brought a re-built Duo, and a part of a JS1.


Saturday, April 27, 2013

Zipping along the ridge.

A Kaimai ridge week is the ideal setup for a youth glide week. Plenty of fun. The Janus GNN will feature in the record books as two young ladies set a new 2 seat 100kph NZ record. Life in the old dog yet.
Speaking of old dogs...I sat in the back seat of GYL while two pilots blazed up and down the 100 km speed challnge course. First run averaged 150 kph...not bad for Hamish...who is yet to go solo (but oh so close). And the second run with Johno averaged 166 kph...
I left early so perhaps even faster times were achieved...







 
Photos below are the girls on the the record attempt.





Saturday, April 13, 2013

18 meter class here we come...

Doesn't look anything like a Discus...and with the leave blower going it fair scoots along.

For April a 5 knot climb isn't too bad.

Certainly a different wing profile from GNM.

Monday, April 8, 2013

A Mad Hatter

Thanks to the Taupo Gliding Club who greeted our 100km Walking Team at 11pm on Saturday night. The clubs theme was "Alice in Wonderland". The chap who brought GNM was the Mad Hatter...so well done I didn't recognise him...

The club was checkpoint 4 on the OxFam 100km charity walk.
From the club the team headed off on a 20km section from 11pm to 3am Sunday morning. Over the farm land to the west of the club, under the new motorway, alongside the Waikato River up to the Aratiatia Dam and back down to Wairakei...CP 5.
1200 people started and almost all finished. Fastest was 12 hours, not sure who was slowest.

Now for some recovery time.

Friday, April 5, 2013

A cockpit smaller than a Ventus A

Squeezed into something smaller than a PW5, that's goes around corners faster than a Discus, and self-launches from 0 to 100kph in 4 seconds...

 Can I fit is this???

Yip...but only just...
 
Let's go...

 
200 and something kph...red lines at 8500rpm...but at 7000rpm your socks get blown off...
 
And it goes around corners faster than anything I've driven...
 
 
But at a slower pace...
 
 
Saw this Falcon over the back from Q'town on the way to the top of Mt Ben Lomond. A practise walk for this weekends 100km OxFam.
 
 


Monday, April 1, 2013

The curtain falls..

On another gliding season.
There will be a few thermals days and plenty of ridge flying available on the Kaimai's but for all intents and purposes the real summer as come to an end...which is how it should be.

Highs and lows;
Only 60 hours this summer, mostly in Omarama and Matamata.
And, for me, a very poor contest season. Between average flying and work intruding on the Club Class Nationals and Regionals I can count on one hand the number of good contest days.
Omarama this summer was below average with lots of wind, low cloud bases and even snow.

Did my duty day on Saturday. Sat about for 6 hours to do 2 flights...although I must say that the success of the mid-week evening training program means that the weekends will suffer from a lack of students. That's great because a single instructor can manage the schedule with one arm tied behind his/her back...

But on the other hand, I sold GNM in 1 week. Must be a record. And it's gone to a chap who seems thrilled to be getting up and away.
I have paid a deposit on a replacement glider...one that makes heaps of noise, isn't speed limited with the engine up, and is 18 meters. I let you guess what brand. Long term I think the 15 meter/Standard Class will wind down as no manufacturers are putting any resources into development. Further, the powers that be saw fit to develop a 13.5 meter class...why???
I also brought a share in a Duo...although I haven't had the time to fly it.
However I can spend the winter reading up on butterfly Vario's, Flarm and ClearNav.

Youth Glide - finally it appears to be taking shape in a format that I think has a reasonable chance of success. It's being driven by a few younger, sharper and enthused people... I've even enrolled my daughter in the week...although how committed she will be I'm not sure...dance, surfing, long boarding, skiing and school seem to get in the way. We can only but try...

And why has work got in the way??? Two company mergers are the main reason. My New Years wish was to get both mergers over the line before March. Farmlands/CRT was far easier than the Kiwifruit merger. But logic prevailed.
However out of the process I learnt something important. Dissent is not to be avoided. I am/was a Director of all the companies involved. With both mergers we had directors who opposed the plan and appeared to work counter-productively in the background. It's frustrating and time consuming.

I've heard people refer to it as "bad behaviour" or "value-distructive"...and it can be...BUT...the process and the outcome can be better because of it. In both cases I believe the dissenting directors were wrong in their logic and arguments...but that doesn't matter. "Groupthink" is a far far more dangerous and insidious condition, whether it be in clubs, companies, your own business, or a country (think Germany in the 1930's...or even America in 2003). Male dominated company boards, and a male dominated gliding movement doesn't make for good listeners.

Looking ahead...next summer will be truncated for me as I'm off to Canada for the ski season. We've found a house just out of Banff which has 4 ski fields within an hour. The house comes with a car...so Fernie and Revelstroke will also be on the hit list. Xmas in the snow...albeit minus 20 degrees or lower.
By the time I get back all the contests will have finished.

Phew...that was a long ramble...with no photos....






Sunday, March 24, 2013

Evolution doesn't always work...


Michelle Knepper of Vancouver, Washington. Knepper picked a doctor out of the phone book to do her liposuction, and went ahead with the procedure even though the doctor was only a dermatologist, not a plastic surgeon. After having complications, she complained she never would have chosen that doctor had she known he wasn't Board Certified in the procedure. (She relied on the phonebook listing over asking the doctor, or looking for a certificate on his wall?!) So she sued ...the phone company! She won $1.2 million plus $375,000 for her husband for "loss of spousal services and companionship."

Friday, March 22, 2013

Auto-pilot it ain't...

Mrs. Merv Grazinski, of Oklahoma City , Oklahoma , who purchased new 32-foot Winnebago motor home. On her first trip home, from an OU football game, having driven on to the freeway, she set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the driver's seat to go to the back of the Winnebago to make herself a sandwich. Not surprisingly, the motor home left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Also not surprisingly, Mrs. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not putting in the owner's manual that she couldn't actually leave the driver's seat while the cruise control was set. The Oklahoma jury awarded her, are you sitting down?

$1,750,000 PLUS a new motor home. Winnebago actually changed their manuals as a result of this suit, just in case Mrs. Grazinski has any relatives who might also buy a motor home.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

The Good News Department.

TV1 tonight.
A pleasant little argument about Ballooning and Part 115...

According to CAA 33 organisations have signed up to Part 115 to save the general public and make aviation safer for the masses...a debatable claim.

The obvious omission is all the other groups who haven't. Perhaps the journalist could have talked to the skydive organisations that have closed down.
Or pointed out that not one of the Gliding clubs or commercial organisations have signed up (as far as I'm aware).

I must admit that CAA have managed the PR spin very well. Between smiling Yak operators, Vector articles, and pieces on the News, we and other adventure operators who have excellent safety records when dealing with the public have been shut out of the debate.

Leading up to the implementation of the regulation CAA claimed that at least 4 gliding clubs/organisations were intending to get a certification...where are these 4 groups?? It was a fiction of course...

Yes yes...I need to build a bridge and get over it...

On a brighter note...I was at Lake Karapiro at lunchtime to watch some Secondary Schools Rowing (Maadi Cup Regatta for those who know what that entails). The best looking sky I've seen in the Waikato ever...
The Maadi Cup is reputed to be the biggest Secondary School sporting event in the southern hemisphere...a big claim which is both hard to measure and test but who cares...it's big. Good to see lots and lots of kids in the age group we wish to bring into Youth Glide doing stuff.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Airspace...who owns it?

This from the GAA website. There are implications for us. The one that comes to mind locally is the long term challange of operating off a fully controlled airport.

Access to the airspace in New Zealand is a right. I am sure that when Airways came into being in 1987 there was much debate and argument about the charging regime. Airways gave commitments and I believe part of its mandate with the Government was that it must facilitate access to the airspace for all users.

Controlled airspace and therefore Airways Corp exist for the sole benefit of the commercial users and fare-paying public. It provides no benefit at all to GA users (quite the contrary). Therefore all costs of its operations should be paid for by those who benefit – ie commercial users and fare-paying passengers. Since GA derives no benefit at all and is frequently frustrated or prevented from private activity by Airways’ presence, there should be no cost to GA.

The Australian and USA systems I have operated in actively promote and encourage GA users to be part of the system, thereby reducing airspace infringements and improving safety. Airways also does that, but the possibility of charges – no matter how small – will discourage it. People will modify their behaviour (often quite irrationally!) when there is a likely cost. This will lead to unsafe actions and decision-making, airspace infringements, non-compliance (turning transponders off, not talking on the radio, not asking for assistance when required, and so on).
Attempts to avoid charges will increase traffic in the narrow low-level transit lanes which are not suitable for high traffic flows.
Non-compliance which results in a mid-air collision will undo all of the savings and headlines such as “Airways charging regime root cause of mid-air disaster” will do nothing for the industry or the travelling public!
The costs to all parties of such a charging regime in administration will be prohibitive, thereby seriously diminishing the benefit. This will include arguments over whether or not a fee should have been charged, collection of small charges, refusal to pay, aircraft owners not being able to recover costs from pilots or not knowing if/when a charge has been incurred, and so on.

The correct actions would be:
1. Actively encourage not-for-profit GA use of the airspace and communication with controllers at no cost, and positively facilitate access.
2. Review the airspace in light of the modern commercial fleet of pressurised turbo-prop and jet aircraft which have steeper climb and descent profiles, higher cruise altitudes, GPS approaches etc, to free up all controlled airspace under 10,000 ft that is not actually required. All the areas outside the control zones should have their lower limits reviewed and the steps brought closer to the terminal.
3. Look to create VFR transit lanes over, as well as around, the large terminal areas that block large parts of the country, for example Auckland, Hamilton, Ohakea, Palmerston North, Blenheim, Nelson etc – wherever possible. I understand this happens in the USA.

Tim is a CPL(A) D Cat with 40 years’ experience and about 4500 hours total time. He owns a PA18, teaches tail-wheel and flies a DC3 as co-pilot. He flew for Bell Air during early fights with Airways over charges in the late 1980s

Monday, March 4, 2013

Youth Glide and Muhammad...

If the mountain won't come to Muhammad then Muhammad should go to the mountain...and so I headed off to Matamata to see the planning for the Youth Glide Camp.
Well done to Bill and the team...well done indeed.

So despite the odd bit of abuse your friendly blogger has attracted I'm pleased to report a number of developments.
Firstly, Piako is the base for a central Nth Is Youth glide initiative. It was always the best option with camp facilities on site, no airspace issues, no air traffic congestion, and its far enough away from other distractions to keep the major focus on gliding.
Secondly, and most importantly, there were a couple of youth gliders at the meeting. We oldies tend to think "we know best" but we need to accept that sometimes we don't. Rules like no cell phones..phooey...you want as many texts, tweets, photos, or whatever works, as possible.
Third, its a camp for a week...not an attachment to a club. Peer pressure works...just look at the Walsh flying School.

21st to 28th April.

I'll be there for most of the week, and will put GYL (Duo) in for free. Piako are putting their two seaters in for the week at a massive discount.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

The end of summer...apparently

For some reason the 28th of Feb is considered the end of summer. Strange really as its 27 degrees outside, with energy lines and thermals as far as you can see. In truth summer typically lasts until the end of March.
From memory we normally had at least one decent snow fall in March on Mt Hutt back in the days when I lived in Chch.
I'm certainly hoping we get rain...tomorrow, the next day or sometime really soon.
Good summer gliding normally means crap summer farming...and so it has proved.
I've just flown from Tga to Palmerston Nth to Akl and home this afternoon...sounds good if it was in a glider...but it was thanks to Air NZ. Dry and brown as far as I could see...you could mistake it for the West Island...but there weren't any snakes spiders sharks crocodiles or cricket players.

But we farmers...whilst we are the backbone of NZ, account for most of NZ's income, guardians of the environment, maintainers of airstrips, providers of tea and scones for landed-out pilots, and all round good guys...we do mention the weather in passing quite often. It should be remembered, that in my opinion, there are only 2 days of good weather per year...one once the ground has dried out after winter, and one just before winter.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Checking til the cows come home...

A number of issues and articles have converged recently that makes me wonder whether the proliferation of "check lists" is actually becoming counter-productive????

A couple of examples;
It appears members have forgotten to collect the tow ropes at the end of a days gliding...very naughty...a safety issue apparently...for who?? I'm not sure...The mower driver perhaps??
It also appears that some forgot to lock all the doors on the hangers...very naughty...a safety issue apparently??? We really should lock the doors (remember this from some-one who left his keys in the car and had it removed)...

On the Soaring Cafe website this morning there is a helpful check list for wing runners and pilots to complete in the last minute or two before take-off. It's a whole A4 page long...good grief...

We have a long list of pre-flight checks, landing checks, re-rigging checks, pre-aerobatic checks, landout checks, and so on and so on...
Do you know how many road signs there are between my place and the end of the road? It's only 8 kms...go on, count them one day...I know you won't...

There remains the question - can anybody be reasonably expected to remember all these lists and procedures and signs???

There is a really neat example of what happens when you over prescribe what people should do (as in when committees get involved in determining an outcome). In Europe they removed all the road signage from a series of round-abouts. You know...those helpful signs like..."roundabout ahead", "50 km", which way to turn, lane markers, pedestrian crossing markers, stop signs etc etc. All brightly colour coded.
So what was the result...less accidents and crashes, the pedestrians were safer, as were the cyclists. Why? Because people had to think for themselves. They didn't automatically assume that because they were inside the lane markers that they could safely forget all other considerations...

So what about gliding and life in general?

Could I suggest 2 things;
Firstly, that if anything is to be added to a check list or procedure then something else should be removed. An example...when I started gliding we had this procedure -the first tow of the day we did a "check release". Great idea...when we had tow rings of different sizes... But we standardised ring sizes years ago...and yet this procedure persists...why??

Secondly, do everything possible to solve the problem, issue or general stick waving, by finding another solution. People leaving the tow ropes on the runway after the end of the day??...paint them red or tie some red ribbon on them so there are easily visible. We seem to specialise in procuring dull grey ropes...so is it any surprise there aren't visible from the clubhouse??

Hanger doors not all locked at days end...rig the alarm system so its not possible to set it until they are...

Work very hard to get people to think for themselves...

In the manufacturing sector there is a process called "Lean". It revolves around getting floor staff, line managers, and so on up, to think through their tasks and suggest better ways to save time, effort and money. It works because instead of following check lists, and doing it the same way we did it yesterday, people try for improvement.


Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Fun in the Sun

I'm jealous...I'd rather be at the Taupo club class contest than stuck inside. However its my choice...no one elses.

Looks like a nice day today, perhaps a little more blue...

Judging be the first days scores it will be a closely fought contest...excellent.
With 12 entries the club class is starting to really fill a need in contest flying.
By comparison the largest class at the Omarama Nationals had 10 entries.

I suspect that over time the standard class will morph into the club class as no more 15 meter gliders are being produced. You'd only have to extend the handicap range 1 or 2 points and the overlap would be complete...I think 1 point gets the LS8's in.
So well done to the team who promoted the club class as a stand alone contest held away from the Nationals, and well done to the organises for moving the contests around to new and different venues.
I'd venture to suggest that either Lake Station or Springfield are possible sites in the future.

To complete the picture I think there is room to hold a 20 meter 2 seat contest alongside the club class. Away from the 15, 18 and Open Class Nationals and in the opposite island.
There is about 10-12 20 meter 2 seaters who could race and maybe more if you include Janus's.
So think fun, training for up and coming youth gliders (who would be on cheaper rates presumably), and a bit of sport. With a field of 10-15 club classers you would have the infrastructure in place to cope with the big wings...read tow planes, forecasters, and helpers.

This not a new idea...

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Done Deal

I sold GNM this afternoon.
To a keen and enthusiastic pilot in Taupo.
So the glider has gone full circle...it started life in Taupo.

Interestingly I did 650 hours in the Discus.
Or 39000 minutes.
Therefore at a $1 per minute that's $39k worth of flying.
That's OK I think...and I didn't have to cue for a club glider.

So what glider to buy next?

Left Taupo at 3pm this afternoon. Great looking day. Given it quite dry around the Reporoa area we passed a huge dust devil just outside Reporoa township...

Friday, February 8, 2013

Could this be the end?

Updated...to fix the spelling etc.

Tomorrow I'm taking GNM to Taupo so 2 prospective buyers can view and fly her.
If my Discus sells over the weekend I'll be "Discusman" no more...in which case the reason for this blog diminishes somewhat. "JS1man" doesn't quite have the same feel...or "ASG29man" (before the local JS1 dealer spends the commission on a new jet unit)...

I know this blog is very widely read...45000 readers can't be wrong. While most come from NZ, Australia (and I'm discounting my local Aussie friend), the US of A, even Azerbaijan (its near Turkmenistan...or one of those stans) feature on the list. I'd have to say to my readers in Azerbaijan that I'm slightly bemused at your interest in a kiwi glider pilots blog site...

I'm haven't decided how I'll handle this. Admittedly blogs are becoming "old school"...seems Facebook is the new trend. Although give it a year or so and we will be on to the next fad...

Any thoughts would be helpful...but I know you are a bashful lot. I also know that there are a few who would be pleased to see me hang up my keyboard...although counter-intuitively they seem to be big readers of the site...go figure.

Anyhow there is plenty of time to decide these things...
Looks like the weather for the start of the club Class Nationals will be good. I flew over the task area yesterday on the way to Palmerston Nth and back from Napier this afternoon, it looked quite nice and soarable. Pity I'm going to be busy with work stuff, I had planned to fly the Nationals...2 in one year.

Looking further ahead...as in way way further ahead...I'm taking a back seat from gliding while my two daughters finish their last few years under our roof, which includes an 8 week winter skiing holiday to Canada. I just looked at the weather near the house we will be staying in...minus 12.






Saturday, January 26, 2013

Youth Glide

Or perhaps more correctly...how to get younger people into gliding AND keeping their interest.
It's been the real Buzz-word(s) in gliding over the last 2 years.
Ask any older member and he/she will have a view.
It would appear the most common is..."we have to have a "Youth Glide" component to our club".

Yip...good idea but;
Who's going to be the chief enthusiast?
Where's the best place to centre it?
Has anyone actually asked these young people what they want?
What's the target end point?? Solo? x-country? Contests? Wing runner?

Alongside this is an idea that came out of a GNZ Strategic Plan from 10 years ago. This was a plan put together by an outsider...perhaps some-one with no "skin in the game" and therefore less emotion.

Centres of Excellence was one of the main thrusts of that plan.

So lets survey the scene...
We had a very good presentation from 2 youth gliders at the GNZ AGM last winter. Lots of photo's and experiences were shared. An interesting aside, it would appear a big part of success was the camp/weekend component to the whole project. A week or so at a site meant a focus on gliding, but if the weather was crap (as is often the case) younger people tend to do stuff (other than sitting in the Kahu cafe drinking trim flat whites). Have a look at the video's that Abbey Delore et al, produced...there's gliding, but also, high jinks, water skiing, swimming, etc
Also peer pressure was brought to bare...
Keeping the "old codgers" away is probably an unintended consequence...

That's fine for Omarama...but what about up here??? In the central North Island where we have 60% of the nations young people???

The obvious option is to base the project around Matamata.Why?? There are 3/4 clubs within an hour or so's drive...close enough to get to, but far enough away to necessitate a camp/staying over situation.
We already have camping, toilets, and bunks available. AND there is a nice Cafe just 5 minutes drive away...short black please...
Plus we can get extra gliders and tow planes at the drop of a hat.
No airspace issues to destroy your day.
And a very handy ridge for building time in the air, doing your first 50km, racing, beating up the road crossing (strike that last one, who would encourage that??), and generally staying airborne.

So why would we encourage each local club to have a "youth glide"?? I've no idea but that's certainly the favoured option of one Club President. Perhaps some one should encourage him ask the young people what they want...