I was trying to work out the expected height gain from a pull up Experienced glider pilots say you will get a better pull up with a heavier glider / water etc. But I can't see this from my (probably incomplete) equations: total energy = potential energy + kinetic energy total energy before pull...

It appears that there has actually been progress on the Saqqara microlift glider: http://www.diloren.com/index01.htm as is evidenced by this pic: http://www.vole.ch/matmambo/diloren.jpg of a completed(?) example. Does anyone have anymore info on this? I've scoured the Dilorean site many times,...

Hey everyone, I'm a young pilot aspiring regular 300-400km flights. Currently I have done a few XC flights in an SZD 51-1 Junior at 100-200km already but I'm limited by club members who want to fly as well. I've been looking at a few gliders and read a lot of reviews but still would like some more...

No scores or news about the crash, what's up? If Charly is not at the contest, we may never hear.

I'm shopping for bug wipers for my ASW27B, and am curious to hear from others with experience, especially in this model. Bug wipers are not very common in the US. Thanks John Cochrane

Hi, I imagine someone on this newsgroup can point me in the right direction on a technical/FAA question. Becker offers 2 versions of their AR6201 radio. The original version has frequency spacing that can be set to either 25 mHz or 8.33 mHz. The new, slightly lower cost option has frequency...

From: Chairman, IGC GNSS Flight Recorder Approval Committee (GFAC) Subject: Date of effect now 1 April 2004 for revised IGC-approval conditions for certain legacy types of GNSS flight recorder. An announcement was recently made to the effect that a number of types of legacy recorders would have...

So, I was getting my first tow at a very busy and very well-respected gliderport, and I saw an area where I wanted to go, so I shift a plane's width opposite the turn direction and stayed there. The tow pilot kept going straight ahead. OK, maybe he didn't see me, or maybe like a fishing guide he...

OK, I can get the theory (OR can I?) with winglets to reduce wingtip vortices. Surely the best direction for the tip is DOWN!, I understand this may be difficult for actually making, especially with gliders and groundloops, aesthetics, etc, but can someone explain why they are pointing...

I have an old TPX 720 handheld radio. It was sitting for 20 + years and the rechargable batteries were shot. They are 1.2 v nicads, 10 of them. Before I go out and buy more, does anyone know if I can just put regular aa cells in it to see if it works? The nicads are 12 volts total, and the dry...

As most of you'll know by now, these useful reviews have been recently restricted to SAA members only. However, I've found a way round: the site is archived by the Internet Archive http://web.archive.org and is easily accessed from there. Just use this...

Could this be the future? Sunseeker http://solar-flight.com/ The Solair 2 http://www.solair.de/timer.htm is a second generation solar electric powered aircraft. Here are the specification (in German): http://www.solair.de/frame.htm English language information is...

I'm getting interested in taking some hd videos on XC missions ... is the GoPro Hero 3 considered the best camera for this type of project. I've also been fooling with a new Video Editor called Power Director ... great app... much better then then older software I had before. I re-reprocessed a...

Is there any scope for non-destructive testing by industrial radiology? X-rays are sensitive in showing up minor ripples in children's bones? Would they work for the ripples in my spar? If so it might be financially viable. Alan

Very sad to report.... http://www.pnc-contact.com/2012/05/06/air-france-2-pilotes-meurent-dans-un-accident-de-planeur-34087

June 2nd at about 130PM Pacific it appears that trackers stopped working. InReach and SPOT both dropped out. Tracking sites show yesterday's complete tracks today. My APRS did not function properly yesterday, which may or may not be related. Did not see evidence in flight of GPS jamming. Received...

Hi everyone, Perhaps some of you already know the soaring simulator Condor. With around 1000 members Condor is becoming a really nice community. Every evening many people fly against eachother in several different servers with challenging tasks from 100 to sometimes 300km. These tasks are not only...

Each year I like to test my batteries and replace those that do not have enough capacity for a typical flight of 3-4-ish hours with all the electronics running. I run two batteries so that removes a worry about loosing power during a record flight. But how do you perform a good real world...

All - For the third year in a row I've somehow managed to injure my back early in the season (base of the spine/sciatic nerve). I'm beginning to suspect its not my day-job or rigging my ship (I have a one-man rigger); but rather my flying and seating position in the cockpit (DG-300). Short...

I'm sure RAS has an opinion. I'm going to be putting brakes on my trailer. I'll be adding a Flexride axle and I can either buy just the axle and buy drum brakes to fit it or i can get it shipped with Disk Brakes installed. Thoughts?