The results

Flight and task.

Today the task committee got very lucky. The RASP forecast was for cumulus clouds just to our north, with west winds up to 20 knots at the top of the lift (9-10,100'). We called a 169 km task to the east with a turnpoint to the southeast to keep us along the main roads. We expected that this would keep us out of the clouds, which we assumed would be far to our north.

Some cu's formed over the airfield at 11 AM, but soon it was clear that there was a definite line of clouds just north of our east southeasterly course line, all blue over the course line as far at Woodstock to the southeast, then clouds over the course line as it turned northeast to Eglington near Bathhurst.

So completely blue to the south and completely covered with cu's on the north side of the course line. With a strong westerly wind.

By the time we launched the cu's were gone from over the field, but the lift was still good and I climbed out at 400 fpm to 10,000' drifting east over Forbes and beyond. We had a 15 km start circle.

I had to hang around in light sink under the clouds for the next thirteen minutes before the first start time at 2 PM getting down to 8,200' for the start. I was ten kilometers north of the course line.

Curt and Scott Barrett launched late and Scott broke a weaklink low. They were both struggling and hanging in zero sink just trying to stay up as they drifted down wind toward the clouds. They were concentrating  on staying up and not worrying about the start time.

The lift was strong and smooth under the well formed cu's. The upper winds were 20 mph out of the west and with the blue to our south toward the turnpoint we worked just the edge of the cu's. It was amazing to see such a definite line of clouds with all blue to the south.

Thirty five kilometers from the turnpoint (after sixty kilometers) I left from under the clouds at 11,000' and went out in the blue to run to the turnpoint. The lift out there wasn't so good and I ended up having to work some 150 fpm to feel good enough to run to the turnpoint.

As I got there I found a massive thermal that got me back over 10,500'. The cloud was forming right smack dab over the turnpoint.

There were plenty of clouds ahead and they indeed did provide plenty of lift that made it pretty easy to make it into goal at the sailplane port. Again, lots of pilots made it in today and every one was very happy with the task committee.

I'm loving flying the Litesport 4. I did notice that fully stuffed I can get it to go 51 mph and that's it. It is extremely easy to land. Gerolf tuned out the left hand turn, so now it turns about the same in either direction.

Yes, the glider doesn't glide quite as well as the topless gliders, but the difference is small and is the difference that the pilot can make with their arm placement and harness tilt. Pilots decisions are much more important that the difference in glider performance.

The news about Steve Elliot was not good. He didn't survive his accident. I want to express my condolences to his family and friends for their loss.

I read the accident report and Steve did not fly off the cart. His left wing started going down (this indicates that the wing is stalled and that the angle of the glider on the cart is too high) and Steve didn't initiate any actions to correct the problem.

The left wing went down further with the other wing rising, still no corrective action on Steve's part. His left wing contacted the ground and the glider "cartwheeled" in. The glider did not suffer any damage but Steve was fatally wounded.

This is an accident that didn't have to happen. All tow pilots need to check their angle on the cart. I have been raising the rear cradle on all the carts that I have used here. Pilots are responsible for checking their tow angle by getting on the cart and letting go of the base bar. If the base tube is in front of the trim position they need to raise the back cradle.

Pilots can also pull in when the cart starts to raise the keel above the cradle. But this is a trickier maneuver.

I will emphasize this issue (and other towing issues) at the next pilot meeting.