Bill Gawthrop who won the U.S. Open Nationals at Montague on July 3rd, is doing well after the crash of his beautiful JS-1c Jet at Truckee, CA. I have not talked directly with Bill, only his wife Dianne. The circumstances of the crash remain unclear, but seem to be unrelated to any mechanical...

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...

The Colibri II GNSS Flight Recorder manufactured LX Navigation (www.lxnavigation.si) has gained IGC-approval with effect from 20 November 2011 for "all flights". For IGC-approval levels, see para 1.1.4 of Annex B to the Sporting Code for gliding. This brings the number of IGC-approved Flight...

http://www.ssa.org/UsTeam/nitra2003/07112003.htm Early report

Ralph Kolstad has announced that his father, Ken Kolstad, passed away yesterday, June 18th, at the age of 96. Ken and his family have had a long involvement with Colorado soaring. Ken and Mid Kolstad received a Paul Schweizer Lifetime Achievement Award at the SSA Convention earlier this...

I am making this posting in the hope of saving someone from going through what I have been going through and to ensure that it gets the coverage it deserves amongst the gliding community. It revolves around a business transaction between myself and Ales Cebavs, the managing director of AMS-Flight...

After some back and forth discussion, it seems pylon-mounted wings could have a lot of potential for sailplanes. WRT aerodynamics, they make a laminar upper wing and much more extensive laminar flow on the fuselage possible. Structurally, notably yaw forces might be problematic (ground-loop), but...

Glasflugel Hornet 206. Total time 3,458 hours, aerotow only. Year of Manufacture 1977 Wings refinished in 1992 and fuselage refinished in 2002. All AD’s completed and fresh annual for 2004 Automatic Control hook-ups. Avionic Dittel ATR 760 radio with boom mic Blumenauer EFA1 electric vario and...

I am wondering how many others suffer from a mental disorder such as Bipolar or Schizoaffective disorder seek out soaring because of it's lack of medical certification requirements. Also, I am wondering what options there are to taking medications which state, 'to avoid heatstroke it is important...

All - With DVD #2 shipping out I just wanted to make a quick post on RAS about the DVD series. I bought the first DVD with some hesitation; I wasn't sure what kind of recording quality it would be, or how well the DVD would be edited/structured... But knowing the folks at Wings & Wheels, I...

On Scott Richmond's third flight in his newly purchased ASW-24E, at about 500ft, the motor stalled. He had already turned 90 degrees to the right, he turned another 90 towards the airport, did several PIOs, maybe pulling on the manual starter cable, then stalled and spun into an orchard 600 yards...

Hi, I am deeply saddened to have just learned of a fatal accident at the Ionia soaring contest. I don't want to post details because I don't know if the family has been notified. Contact me for details. I am not at the contest but have talked briefly with contest...

http://www.flightsimnetwork.com/cgi/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_th read&om=6909&forum=DCForumID21#1 U may have to copy and paste the URL rather then clicking. After reading this...would it be possible to derive information from the simulator to drive glide slope and wind data...as well as the GPS...

It might an old message, but I ran across it and would encourage instructors and those who haven't to at least experience two flights with no reference to instruments, at least to pattern altitude. Learn to use the wind noise and pitch attitude on a glider you know well. One of the more rewarding...

Does anybody know the text book answer to the "Procedure for Lost Radio Communication" between the glider and ground crew during a cross country flight? What answer would you give if asked during a checkride? Thanks

Some time ago potential purchasers of the (US) PowerFLARM brick were offered the choice of the bundled display or the 57mm panel mount display. No information on either seemed to be available from US dealers so it was impossible to make an informed choice. Butterfly has advised me that no English...

Hey ya'll, Any opinions/experience regarding the Briegleb 12B? As always, I look to the vastness of your communal experience and appreciate willingness to share it with others. This is a great group. Curt

This may be a silly question - but are all metric altimeters configured with 'Zero at 6 O'clock' as I saw in France? I did not have trouble converting to meters/kilometers but I did have trouble quickly reading the altimeter with the zero at the bottom of the instrument face (especially on the...

Our club is looking for a tow hook for 182, in particular Schweizer (partnumber 0500228-2) which is the STC'd approved hook for the Cessna 182. Any pointers are welcome. Thanks Ramy

Hello, We are installing a Tost E-85 tow hitch on a Super Cub. We wrote up a nice 337 for the Feds. They approved of the bracket we fabricated. However, they are refusing to sign off on the E-85 hook. Think we've run into the same Feds who tried to ground Bob Hoover. Anyway, they are saying...