http://www.newscientist.com/

Even with PowerFLARM on "stealth" pilots may soon have another way to find the next thermal. The DARPA "One Shot" initiative will develop a rifle scope which uses LIDAR to detect and correct for crosswind "windage". The Israeli Soreq Nuclear Research Center has already been granted a patent on...

It looks as if there may have been as many as 18 land outs today. Thunderstorms near the finish cylinder.

Everybody, do yourself a favor and watch this excellent series on YouTube. Each episode runs about 47 minutes. There are about 40 episodes. They mostly deal with airline crashes but gliders are very similar. The cause of almost all of them is pilot error - sometimes painful to watch errors. ...

FYI... The Cobra trailer for one of the two CAP ASK-21's had developed a problem with the left tire and had a tendency to sway. The tire was deteriorating rapidly, wearing on one side with severe cupping. The tires were relatively new trailer rated bias ply. Theories ranged from a bent axle to...

I have a number of ratings. I approached training for each them the same way. I got my glider ratings in an extremely informal club environment and my airplane ratings at small Part 61 flight schools. My goals we 1. Get the rating in the minimum time at the minimum cost. 2. Achieve the...

The result is small, may be a fluke and it's too soon for the LetsGoGliding campaign to claim credit but, since February, SSA membership has grown at least 50 members every month with 74 new members in April which represents a reversal of the long term downward trend. The number of bumper stickers...

Some may find this interesting. Today as I drove home in a snowstorm, three large objects fell from the sky onto the street in front of me. I stopped to see what they were. They turned out to be three metalized Mylar toy balloons encased in ice! Darned kids probably didn't get a weather...

Just in case rampant cockpit tech wasn't problematic enough... http://rdd.me/zeqevk9j

This is in response to threads on FLARM and Mirasol displays which I think relate in a general way. If you back up 100 meters and think outside the box, we've been facing restricted panel space for a long time. FLARM is just the latest gadget but it may be the proverbial "straw". A solution has...

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/onepercent/2012/01/new-act-scuppers-lightsquareds.html It looks like Congress and the DOD have ended the threat.

http://rdd.me/ryoliosm I doesn't matter how 'smart' our gadgets are if you can't read the damn screens with a quick glance. Qualcom's Mirasol display looks like a magazine cover in direct sunlight.

I'm going to watch my parachute get repacked this evening. The local Master Rigger is teaching a rigging class and I'm invited to watch him repack my 'chute in front of the class. Can I ask him any questions for r.a.s.? Bill Daniels

This is a fork of the Cobra trailer brake thread. I encountered an unnerving situation a couple of weeks ago. I was backing my Komet trailer into a new parking position near my house. This required moving the trailer less than 15 feet slightly uphill. For such a short move, I didn't think the...

I've been analyzing the IGC files from my flights and comparing them to others. Generally, in good conditions, I'm circling less than 25% of the time. Other, far better pilots than I, are circling less than 15% of the time. This means that wind data that depends on the glider flying circles gets...

Why not just winch launch the thing and leave all this FAR bible pounding behind? Bill Daniels

So, I'm packing up the glider trailer and Grand Cherokee for a trip that will end at the Alamogordo Soaring Fiesta on the 29th. The space is very limited and I can't quite figure out how all the stuff is going to fit. Then something catches my eye. The spare wheel for the Komet trailer and the...

My Nimbus 2C has a rotating shaft that passes through the root rib into the integral wing tank. This shaft operates the dump valve. This shaft has about 1mm radial play and appears to be leaking water at a slow rate. I detect no axial play. I find that the closing spring can be gently...

After reading the annual installment of the 12V vs.14V soap opera and the "We can't power any more electronics" whine, I took a little time to read the Maxwell Electronics information on their Ultracaps. See: http://www.maxwell.com/index.html Maxwell makes a pretty good case for combining a small...

I Googled r.a.s and found posts about water beds, truck inner tubes and collapsible plastic cubes from Wal-Mart. The plastic cubes will transport 50 gallons and fit inside my Jeep Grand Cherokee but nothing else will fit and I don't want to unload the Jeep just for this chore. Full 10...