The US team should all be there now. A few days of prep and practice and the competition will be on. Jim https://www.facebook.com/UsJuniorSoaring/timeline

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...

At 8AM Sunday the 11AM forecast is 78 hours old. Jim

Washington DC. Responding to the incapabilities of the 3.2 million dollar IACRA program, FAA announced the vicarious program VIACRA to keep up the processing of student pilot applications until IACRA could seek professional help. Instructors should avoid using VIACRA more then twice per day.

Just noticed this feature. Very nice. No idea what the new "Advanced" view is, just pesters me to send money. May or may not be a year since sending the last installment. Jim

Daniel Sazhin declared and flew 1000k O/R today. Others had fun too. Very nice. Nobody there had trackers linked to glideport.aero, so it's an evening surprise. Jim

In recent days OLC changed what you initially see in flight details to not include comments. Comments must be opened with the down arrow to the right of "Comment" for each flight. Consistent in Firefox, Opera, Chrome and Internet Exploder on Windows. Also Chrome, Firefox and Safari on Mac. Seems an...

The accidents in Namibia which totaled gliders and claimed a life deserve more respect than that offered by our friend "Fred Drift". Hey, it's fun to land with a drag chute. I regret never trying ASW17B 15 meter drag chute landings. At 20m it was huge fun. Jim

There must be dozens... Opening gambit: Q. What's the difference between stealing a toy from a baby and stealing a toy from contest pilots? A. Sooner or later, the baby will stop crying. Jim

Done this for a few years now, but... Has anyone else noticed this inconsistency in the OLC website? Not ten, twelve! And not a request. Or zero? Jim Please enter the value you want to donate (a min. of 10 EUR is respectfully requested). Get your smiley for more than 1 year (up to 5) with an...

Onward. It's time for serious discussion of Collision Avoidance Systems and techniques. There is no substitute for a good lookout. Don't install all this instrumentation and expect to be able to fly blind. These equipment-based topics come to mind immediately. Batteries. Solar panels.

Dan's post below regarding auto tows opens the door for another cool-weather wind-up. Clubs about everywhere else are well stocked with beer and wine. In Moriarty, there's a brewery not far off the airport. In Tehachapi the brewery is closer to the municipal airport. But what about on-site? Jim

A reminder for distances: American Falls, Hailey and Picabo are just short of 1000k. Pocatello 1002k Bear Lake Co 1003k Coleville 1007k Sun River 1008k Soda Springs 1026k Bend 1026k Arco-Butte 1040k

Things that small will not be a problem. Lithium glider batteries are another story. The Handpresso Hybrid is the thing security seems to like most in my carry-on, but while pulling shots of espresso at 39,000' I've probably sold a few to flight attendants. Jim

After running out of my favorite "Brillianize" (more on order) tried a handful of things that were on hand or otherwise locally available. Had heard "Plexus" was highly thought of, but it left streaks. None of the aerosol cleaners seemed very useful in the wind. Meguiars "Mirror Glaze 18" worked...

At 8AM on Saturday, the NAM and GFS forecast for 2PM Saturday is 45 hours old. RAP is unavailable. The server must be down again. This year, GFS 2PM forecasts only update at 00Z. Good thing we don't fly at 2PM. Jim

For years I've used XC Skies GFS as my standard reference. Ar the moment, it seems to have turned to rubbish. The New South Wales maps have a lot of square or rectangular areas in which the model changes drastically. Knowing it can't be real, I've switched to the local RASP models (which are...

Here's something that looks interesting for use on glider trailers. It may improve stability. Called Airtab, it appears to be a turbulator strip for trucks and trailers. Anyone have experience with these? Jim http://www.airtab.com/

It's not currently certified in the USA, but pay attention to this thing called FLARM. http://www.flarm.com/index_en.html This device works from (FLARM equipped) aircraft to aircraft, draws very little current (55ma), gives you rough relative direction, height and distance of aircraft with...

Perhaps a change for the better... Flying in the Sierras with some friends from Tehachapi, California City and Minden, we were treated to a radio transmission on 123.3 (perhaps repeated on 5) from a jet descending through 19,000 into Carson City: "...Anyone on the Pine Nuts?" The jet pilot must...