I'm curious to know if anyone knows what percentage of USA based glider pilots fly in official contests (less formal individual club contests are less interesting to me). If I were to use my personal contacts (the pilots I fly with), I'd put the number around 10-15% but given the amount of...

I own a Open Cirrus and was wondering what polar I should be using in SeeYou mobile? SeeYou has two polars, Cirrus 18m, with a L/D of 39:1 and Cir.L265, with a L/D of 44:1 The 44:1 matches the Cirrus’s L/D, but I’ve never seen it called Cir. L265 ?, and when you google Cir.L265 it shows pics of a...

I'm just learning to fly and decided to start with gliders (aerotow launch). However, as I joined a club its slow to build time and get experience. I was wondering if I could accelerate that with powered flight... 1) What powered flight skills could I concentrate on that would best accelerate the...

My LS-4A needs a radio and I would like to get some recommendations. Reliability, good features, current draw, etc. I would also be interested in a used one if available. Thanks

OK Gang - the airshow season is about to start - so what are the "ten things to do / not to do" if our club gets involved in a summer airshow? What is the best thing your club or commercial operation did? Worst? Thanks dave newill

I’ve been out of it for two years and intend to be flying again this spring in my ASW 24. Practice and FAI and/or Sports Class competition. Currently I have an LNAV and GPS 20 with a Compaq 1550 (in the original Cambridge mounting cradle) running GN II, a Winter mechanical backup vario, and a...

Hey guys, I've been off usenet for a couple years now. Anyway, I am currently a CFII that would like to learn how to soar. I've contacted a couple local clubs for information, which they have been very good to reply so far! I don't have a whole lot of uninterrupted time right now to devote towards...

This is a companion question to my "What soaring foods do you eat?". I figured that water was *THE* drink of choice. But in the other thread I have seen gatorade, something called GU (http://www.gusports.com/) and other interesting liquid refreshments (but no capacino). So ... what do you drink...

I have been trying to determine what foods work well for extended cross country flying. It needs to taste good, give you energy, easy to eat in flight, not too messy, filling, doesn't melt, etc. What does everyone use? - John

A couple of weeks ago I purchased a fairly cheap pair of sunglasses. When I put them on in my glider all of my instruments magically went black. Unbeknownst to me, the lenses are polarized. Are there any sunglasses that seem to work really well for flying?

The wife of one of our club members came up with this list, except for the BBQ restaurants, I added all of those. All winners here. River Falls Spa, downtown Greenville http://www.riverfallsspa.com/ The Spa at West End https://www.westendspa.com/ Cooking lessons/event: Charleston Cooks ...

Our club (NJ - USA) has folded and we still have an L-13 taking up space. Before I call the local scrap yard I thought I'd ask if anyone might be interested in buying it at scrap value with the dreams of getting airworthy again. We also have an open trailer for it that will be available separately...

Just a bit of information about Florida weather, as to date we are about 26 inches ahead of normal rainfall for the year. Now this is a big problem when it comes to soaring during the spring. We really need to dry out quick to have some good spring soaring weather. If it dried out tomorrow and...

I want to make a small mold I would later use to create a fiberglass container to hold lead weight. It would be nice if mold material can withstand 500 degrees Fahrenheit so I can pour lead into it and then cover it by fiberglass. Alternatively I would use the mold to create a fiberglass container...

Darn right I'm bored. So you're at a contest and grinding away in a furball thermal with too many others. What two instruments get the most "looks" and in what order?

I can't find any information in the logs about this vario and I'm not familiar with it. Is it a Rico? http://s214.beta.photobucket.com/user/gdflys/media/Whatvario.jpg.html If I can dtermine what it is I'd love to try and find a manual of some sort for it if anyone has one. Thanks, Greg

Out of curiosity, I searched but found no similar thread... So what was your first glider, how did you find it, how long did you fly it, did you keep it or quickly out grow it? Would love to hear your stories...

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...

Some of you may find this entertaining... http://scottishglidingcentre.com/blog/ See ya, Dave "YO electric"

Today, Wednesday, April 18th, has been xcelled due to weather. We had a pilots meeting this morning at 10:30 am, and the daily winners from the 4 classes, from yesterdy, the first cntest day, told their stories. Dave Martin, BV, who has been contest soaring since about 1977.....err......30 years,...