Does any country run competitions in the IGC Club Class? USA does not. We have the Sports Class, which allows any glider to enter, and another Sports Class (called, locally, the Club Class) which uses a restricted list of gliders that is different from the IGC Club Class list. In another thread,...

A question: How does Winscore calculate finish altitude on a cylinder finish? I assume it is based on the logger's pressure altitude reading for the closest logger fix after crossing the finish line, but how is that altitude adjusted for the local altimeter setting? Does it compare the...

With his family at his side, Charlie Spratt died at 7:30 this morning (Friday). A memorial celebration for The Gate will be held May 9 (Saturday) at Cordele, Ga., time and place to be announced. We were so lucky to have him among us. Karl Striedieck

The United States and the world soaring community lost a giant in the history of competition soaring on September 5th 2004, with the passing of Andrew James Smith. AJ passed away with heart failure at age 80 in his home in Tecumseh, Michigan. He began soaring in the 1950's with his close friend...

Are some glider designs much safer than others? Or do certain designs put their pilots at risk for certain types of injuries during a crash? Looking at the Libelle with the bubble canopy it makes me wonder if the glider flipped on you during a bad landing or crash if the pilot would suffer head/...

My E-mail was not complete, It should be Mike Evans, Dallas Texas

I currently charge the (hard to remove) batteries in my ASH-26E with a solar panel and charger installed on/in my trailer. During a contest, the plane may not spend much time in the trailer during daylight hours, but it does spend most nights in there. The solution would be to use the solar panel...

Yeah, its early but we have a new site for this year's Region 3 Contest. If you plan on attending, please sign -up early in order for our organization to make arrangements. There has also been inquires to hold world class for the PW-5's. (If we are able to have (3) register we will hold a world...

Hello, Anyone have a maintenance manual or a collection of maintenance instructions for the ASW-20?jeff

Catch up on day 6, 8, and 9 http://www.ssa.org/UsTeam/ust_reports_sr.htm

USAF Request For Proposal: FA8617-10-R-6210 They need approximately 20 new gliders, several trailers, support equipment, spares and contract maintenance, for delivery at Colorado Springs, CO (USA) in the next two years.

I am pleased to announce IGC-approval of the Nano GNSS Flight recorder from LXNAV d.o.o., with effect from 31 August 2010. This follows test and evaluation by the IGC GNSS Flight Recorder Approval Committee (GFAC) in accordance with Annex B to the Sporting Code and the Specification for...

I wrote a new article on how to use computers to help judge glides. http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/john.cochrane/soaring/docs/safety_glides.pdf or the first item here http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/john.cochrane/soaring/index.htm#maccready This will probably end up in Soaring sooner or later,...

All, My radio (Dittel FSG 71) Squelch seems to be a bit sensitive (but by design, cannot be adjusted by the pilot). In my case, when flying, the squelch is a bit sensitive and the “white noise” of the radio comes on at times, even when there are no communications received. I can always reset the...

Is there a general consensus on which schools are regarded as the "best" for glider training? I realize this is difficult to compare, as there are lots of good instructors all over the place, but if someone were interested in taking a block of time off and going somewhere to learn how to fly...

Since I have been unable to get access to the XCSoar forum thus far, I thought I'd go ahead and post my questions here. I just got a used Dell Streak 5 that was previously an AT&T one. It appears it is Android 1.6 and seems to be functioning fine. I attempted to install XCSoar using wifi. I first...

I need to get my flight review. Anybody knows who is presently operating? Since I live in southeastern part of Washington state I am willing to travel. Regards.

Sailplane designers, Modern wind turbine blades are strikingly similar to glider wings. They are now now coming out in sizes approaching 50 meters. The market expansion for wind energy is expected to grow rapidly. The ensuing economies of scale from mass produced wind turbine blades just...

Written in the early seventies about soaring at Marfa - in big wing (open class) sailplanes. Map enclosed with green/red landable/unlandable areas (for big wings at least), and known "sink holes" and lift areas. I have copies available. I also have DVD copies of "The Sun Ship Game" movie. Then...

I've browsed the old discussions on gelcoat maintenance to learn what I can before developing a maintenance routine of my own, for my recently acquired V2C. One thing not yet clear to me is the best way to use/apply 3M's Finesse-It II, which seems to be the consensus cleaner/polisher compound: With...