distance records

There are a group of HG pilots in Zapata TX for the month of July to break the straight out distance record for HG's.

Five went for it today and there are two still flying, 9 pm CDT, that have passed the current record and they will be forced to land by 9:31 to stay legal. They are flying with strobes so they an extra 30 minutes.

SPOT tracks here http://chorlton.homeip.net/spotmap/zapata.html first two pilots in the list are the last two flying.

Current record is 435 miles and the passed that mark while at 10K AGL.

Looks like they will land on highway 207 north of Lubbock.

Ron Gleason

PS - Gary Osaba has a JS1 there to try some records later this week, stay tuned!

On Tuesday, 3 July 2012 20:04:12 UTC-6, Ron Gleason wrote:
There are a group of HG pilots in Zapata TX for the month of July to break the straight out distance record for HG's.

Five went for it today and there are two still flying, 9 pm CDT, that have passed the current record and they will be forced to land by 9:31 to stay legal. They are flying with strobes so they an extra 30 minutes.

SPOT tracks here http://chorlton.homeip.net/spotmap/zapata.html first two pilots in the list are the last two flying.

Current record is 435 miles and the passed that mark while at 10K AGL.

Looks like they will land on highway 207 north of Lubbock.

Ron Gleason

PS - Gary Osaba has a JS1 there to try some records later this week, stay tuned!

Looks like 473 to 475 miles. Not a bad day.

On Jul 3, 7:15*pm, Ron Gleason wrote:
On Tuesday, 3 July 2012 20:04:12 UTC-6, Ron Gleason *wrote:
There are a group of HG pilots in Zapata TX for the month of July to break the straight out distance record for HG's.

Five went for it today and there are two still flying, 9 pm CDT, that have passed the current record and they will be forced to land by 9:31 to stay legal. *They are flying with strobes so they an extra 30 minutes.

SPOT tracks herehttp://chorlton.homeip.net/spotmap/zapata.html*first two pilots in the list are the last two flying.

Current record is 435 miles and the passed that mark while at 10K AGL.

Looks like they will land on highway 207 north of Lubbock.

Ron Gleason

PS - Gary Osaba has a JS1 there to try some records later this week, stay tuned!

Looks like 473 to 475 miles. *Not a bad day.


Ron,

THANKS so much for your RAS post. And, CONGRATULATIONS to Dustin and
Jon! It is so good to see long distance hang gliding doing so well
these days. HG doesn't need mountains any more!

"Not a bad day" is certainly an understatement!

Watching them on SPOT was very exciting for me, as I brought the world
record for HG to Arizona 30 years ago (140 miles) on a Comet 1 from
Mingus Mtn. Every HG record prior to that had been set in
California. And, 25 years ago to the day, Hans Heydrich and I became
the 2nd HG pilots to ever surpass the magic 200 mi barrier (Larry
Tudor was the 1st) with 218 from Flagstaff to Cortez, CO. My, how
times have changed, as have hang gliders, and now the ability to aero
tow. Dustin certainly continues to carry the torch for Arizona!

It was interesting to watch their last posts while at the same time
looking at the wind map (http://hint.fm/wind/), and noticing that just
as Jon and Dustin were coming onto the plateau, Dustin's path bent a
tad NW, exactly parallel to the indicated 10 mph wind direction,
leading him off Highway 207 and onto Ranch Road 2576, for what looks
like probably 2 extra miles.

If these guys, and others, plan to try for longer flights this week,
along with Osaba in his JS1, please put up posts on the RAS earlier in
the days, with SPOT links again. If one can't be participating, even
following on SPOT is exciting.

Cheers,
Bob Thompson
19

video showing the flight track:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=a42Gz9AuLqI

On Jul 5, 6:16*pm, Tony wrote:
video showing the flight track:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=a42Gz9AuLqI

Fascinating to watch. Such amazing technology today.