Our Soaring Society of America (SSA) Convention is just over a month away, FEB 17 - 20 in Greenville, South Carolina. Meet legends of aviation, racing pilots, designers, flight instructors, eager young student pilots and bunch of nice folks from around the world. (For me, our biennial SSA...

Bill Schweizer, the last of the three brothers who founded Schweizer Aircraft Corporation, has passed away. Here is a link to his obituary: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/star-gazette/obituary.aspx?n=william-schweizer&pid=177226098&fhid=13269

Darn! I just finally looked at the speakers and topics for this convention and there is not a single time slot that doesn't have at least two different speakers and topics I really want to attend. :( Would someone mind giving my presentation so I can go to the others scheduled during my time...

I messed up the dates in the previous post. Sorry..... Here's a correction. The 22nd Annual Thermal Camp will take place at Air Sailing Gliderport June 6-10, 2016. The Camp includes daily morning ground school sessions and a full afternoon of flying to practice techniques for thermalling your...

I am looking for some advice on the forms and process I need to go through, to buy a glider registered in the US. From what I can tell, I need a Bill of Sale (form 8050-2) and an Aircraft Registration Application (form 8050-1). It appears that the latter form is only available from the local FSDO...

Its time again to change batteries in my motorglider. There are 4 lead batteries with modified (vibration proof) terminals. A major pita. I have been enviously following the threads for improved batteries for pure gliders. Lighter, more performance, holding their charge, longer life cycle yada...

I know this is somewhat subjective. Factory support agreements, etc. aside, has anyone noticed any difference in the quality of newer DG production models compared to SH and Schleicher? Thanks

http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Security-Industry/2016/01/06/Navy-tests-cooperative-soaring-for-UAV-sailplanes/4961452104725/?spt=sec&or=bn Good luck getting this genie back in the bottle! Kirk 66

The 22nd Annual Thermal Camp will take place at Air Sailing Gliderport June 2-6, 2014. The Camp includes daily morning ground school sessions and a full afternoon of flying to practice techniques for thermalling your glider efficiently and safely. This five-day camp is intended for new, beginner,...

For any of the history buffs out there, Or anyone that is tired of the never ending discussions regarding ADSB, Power Flarm, and flying with a i-Pad for a AHRS. The Oldest flying glider in the world will be on display at the 2016 SSA convention in Greenville SC. Its a Baker McMillan Cadet, and...

The Eagle Field winch launch team will be conducting training and ground launch sign off classes this coming summer. Slots are available for the June 4-5 class and other dates will be announced. Although a ground launch endorsement may be useful someday for pilots with the air tow only...

The Mt Washington wave camp last week was a great success with plenty of wave flights, one of which (Evan Ludeman) reached 31K. On another day a couple gliders were in wave when a slug of moisture closed the windows trapping them on top. One turned down wind and rode the undulations to drier air...

Has anyone successfully installed a Garmin GPS 20A as a position source with a Trig transponder in an experimental glider? The $845 cost for the GPS (+antenna) seems reasonable for a turnkey solution for those of us with Trig transponders already installed. Mark

Howdy All, Does anyone have any experience or know anything about any seabreeze convergence soaring that has been accomplished off the DE Bay, Chesapeake Bay, or the NJ Coast? I have seen it develop and have played with it locally, but have their been any bigger flights utilizing it? I have been...

I just renewed my subscription which expired 10/12, and have my receipt, but XCSkies still has me locked out of my pages, insisting that I renew again! Is the site down? I've tried to contact them twice but got no response, so had to call the credit card company to cancel the payment.

OK, the peanut gallergy is driving me crazy. So I did a quick internet search and found this very relevant document from FLARM: How to Use FLARM(R) in Gliding Competitions? http://www.segelflugbedarf24.de/flarm/download/Flarm_Competitions.pdf The document includes some pretty interesting...

Hi all. Just wondering if anyone else is having trouble renewing their xcskies account or is it just mine? Regards Brendon

Please accept this as an exercise intended for educating the upcoming ADS-B mandate. So we have a purely hypothetical late model sailplane registered FAA "EXPERMENTAL". It is equipped with a state of the art 5" in-panel flight computer (your favorite brand),a Mode S, 1090ES ADS-B out capable...

So, it's time to fess up. I have used flarm tactically in contests. I enjoyed it. And I think it increases, not decreases, the "spirit" of the sport. How: One soupy, incredibly hard blue day at Perry, I had (as usual) screwed up my determination that this time, I was not going to foolishly go...

Hi all, We have two Cessna 182's towplanes and need a mirror solution. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks, Noel