http://soaringcafe.net/2011/04/official-practice-day-at-perry/ TA

A long time ago I visited a soaring site in Israel. The signal the glider pilots used to signal readiness to the tow pilot was not waving the rudder like in the USA, but opening and closing the spoilers/breaks twice. I was told one of the reasons for this was to make sure they were closed...

The May issue is great reading with “a tonne of exclusive to us new news”. Articles, specially written for Gliding International includes • The new two seater with the 40 hp electric motor for self-launching now being shipped from Slovenia. Factory now has 65 employees. • China has a...

2010 Region 6 north (Sanctioned SSA) is the same weekend and ends the Thursday after Memorial Day weekend (June 4th). We have nearly 30 gliders registered and FAI 15/18 Meter and Sports Classes. This will be a NO WATER CONTEST. If you are looking for a sanctioned contest nearby Chicago we are...

What are the minimum experience levels required at your club before a member is allowed to get out of gliding distance back to the home gliderport, i.e. go cross country? Thanks, Fred Houston, TX

Probably not a lot of experience or advice from US pilots on this one, since we don't use bugwipers much....maybe someone from Europe? Want a source for the wire retrieval cable for the Pirker and Storka bugwiper system. Any advice? So far, there are no replies from the company to my...

Will your soaring organization be having or attending an airport open house soon? Introduce interested, prospective youth through an application to the Cadet Youth Flight Scholarship http://www.ssa.org/myhome.asp?mbr=7503688335&show=blog&id=2388

Must be postmarked no later than April 30th. http://www.ssa.org/myhome.asp?mbr=7503688335&show=blog&id=2389

One of the down sides of a type certified sailplane is it requires an aircraft inspector, not just a mechanic, to do the annual. These guys are sometimes hard to find. Anyone know of an inspector in the vicinity of Lake Seminole Gliderport, Florida , which is about 30 miles west of Orlando?

Empty tow ball headed northwest, departing 4/23. Frank Whiteley 970-330-2050

The Perry SPOT maps are now active. The links a http://www.hawketracking.org/perry/files/tracking.htm http://www.hawketracking.org/perry/files/trackinglarge.htm http://www.hawketracking.org/perry/files/mobile.htm http://www.hawketracking.org/perry/files/tracking.kml -- requires Google Earth

Can anyone from VA confirm what may have happened to Dr. Schneller, more than just a "rope break". www2.wsls.com/news/2011/apr/11/virginia-tech-professor-killed-craig- county-glider-ar-964634/ Condolenses and best wishes to all Meir's family and friends.

We have had some interesting discussions over sailplane handicaps for our upcoming Arizona contest season and we are unable to reconcile the difference between the SSA handicaps and those used in the rest of the world. There appear to be no clear descriptions anywhere on how the SSA ones are...

Hi, I'm pretty good at working with PDAs, but this one has me stumped. A customer sent his iPAQ hx4700 to me and asked me to see if I could completely remove a very persistent security program called Credant Mobile Guardian Shield (CMG). It requires a password when the unit is turned on. The...

http://soaringcafe.net/2011/04/pre-practice-days-at-perry/ TA

A new document entitled "Critical Contest Safety Procedures Checklist" has been posted on the SSA rules page. We hope contest organizers and participants find this a helpful guide to key safety considerations. Thanks to BB for his...

OK, I'm 99% sure that this won't be an issue but everything in the literature for the Tasman vario's says it only needs connected to a total energy port. No total energy on the Cherokee II but I suspect the tasman will work OK hooked to static just like my current Winter vario. It will just be non...

I've heard nothing but wonderful reports from Triple Tree. Does anyone know if they will do another 3 day race like the one they did a year or so ago? Thanks! SA

I don't want to beat a dead horse here but there seems to be some conflict of opinion as to whose responsibility certain aspects of launching a glider might be. While I am not THE authority on the subject, I can only go with what I have been taught, what I have learned and observed and the...

Hi, I'm long overdue submitting a review of the book "Advanced Soaring Made Easy" to the SSA for publication in Soaring magazine. It is has been an extremely popular book. I'd love to include some unbiased reviews of the book to the article. I'm biased because I have sold hundreds of them. ...