Larry Bunner has initiated a three to four month season of cross
country and competition

For the last couple of years we have been flying big flights at
Quest Air in the Spring. This year we upped the ante a bit by organizing the
Quest Air Cross Country,
https://airtribune.com/questxc/blog__day_18. In 2017 Larry and I and other
pilots are ready to take the next step.

There are two aspects. One is a daily cross country task setting with group
flying over the four month period. The other is two periods of race to goal
competitions. A mentored sport class competition the last week of March and two
weekly Quest Air Open competitions the last two weeks of April. More about these
competitions in the next article.

We will kick off the cross country season with daily morning briefings starting
February 1st with task setting, a weather briefing, and driver coordination. We
will be setting up drivers in advance so that there will be drivers available
for hire. Tasks and waypoints will be available for pilots to download far in
advance. We expect to have Live Tracking (it will be required) and air to air
communication as well as air to driver communication which will be an important
component of the cross country flying.

This is group flying with pilots helping each other out to provide the best
experience of all the pilots involved. Pilots will divide themselves up into
appropriate groups based on experience and glider types and willingness to take
on the day's tasks. We expect to do as many closed tasks as possible, but on
windy days we will go far down wind.

This requires significant preparation on the part of pilots long before the
morning briefings. Pilots will need to be able to download waypoints and tasks
in advance. Able to upload waypoints and tasks to their flight instruments and
then upload their flights to on-line flight tracking systems after their
flights.

Pilots will be called upon to self organize and to help others organize and run
the cross country season. This is a pilot controlled operation from the start.

The cost will be $25 for the whole season. Aerotowing, retrieval, and camping or
room fees apply.