What has the SSA done for us lately?

As a participant and SSA member I would like to congratulate the SSA and the
two Regional Directors - John Murray and Jim Payne who took the lead in
initially proposing this event to commemorate the 100 years of flight .Together
with their wives (Linda and Jackie) they stepped up, organized and ran this
event over the past several weeks.
Participants included many pilots and crews from all over Europe,
Australia,South America and every corner of the US.
Despite a very unfortuate and tragic accident on day 1, and several legs that
could not be flown because of weather the event was an enormous success. The
grand finale was all the sailplanes landing on that very hallowed ground at
Kitty Hawk where the Wright brothers made their historic flights in 1903.
Many SSA members helped all along the way and many SSA chapters hosted the
event at airfields along the way .
WELL DONE SSA this was an event our organization, and the Directors can be very
proud to have sponsored.

Ron Clarke (ZA)

Kill Devil Hills. Yeah. That's the spot where the Wright Brothers became
famous for inventing powered flight thereby relieving mankind from its
burden having to travel around in wheeled vehicles or confining their flying
to short hops in gliders carrying no payloads. From that point on,
commercial transportation, special cargoes, and warfare would be dominated
by the powered aircraft and those gliders that they strapped engines onto
would sink into the toybox. Yeah. I wonder what the Smithsonian has planned
for the place. Ought to be nice and relevant.

Now all those guys have to drive back...

"Orville. Call it!"



"ZASoars" wrote in message
...
As a participant and SSA member I would like to congratulate the SSA and
the
two Regional Directors - John Murray and Jim Payne who took the lead in
initially proposing this event to commemorate the 100 years of flight
..Together
with their wives (Linda and Jackie) they stepped up, organized and ran
this
event over the past several weeks.
Participants included many pilots and crews from all over Europe,
Australia,South America and every corner of the US.
Despite a very unfortuate and tragic accident on day 1, and several legs
that
could not be flown because of weather the event was an enormous success.
The
grand finale was all the sailplanes landing on that very hallowed ground
at
Kitty Hawk where the Wright brothers made their historic flights in 1903.
Many SSA members helped all along the way and many SSA chapters hosted the
event at airfields along the way .
WELL DONE SSA this was an event our organization, and the Directors can be
very
proud to have sponsored.

Ron Clarke (ZA)

Interesting.

If one takes a sailplane and mounts an engine on it he gets a powered sailplane. What makes me
thinking that Wrights plane was not a powered plane, but a motor glider :-). A selflauncher to be
excact. Or a touring motor glider.


Kaido


"John Shelton" wrote in message
thlink.net...
Kill Devil Hills. Yeah. That's the spot where the Wright Brothers became
famous for inventing powered flight thereby relieving mankind from its
burden having to travel around in wheeled vehicles or confining their flying
to short hops in gliders carrying no payloads. From that point on,
commercial transportation, special cargoes, and warfare would be dominated
by the powered aircraft and those gliders that they strapped engines onto
would sink into the toybox.

Shucks, we're just celebrating the invention of the tow plane over here in
the USA;^)

Frank Whiteley

"iPilot" wrote in message
...
Interesting.

If one takes a sailplane and mounts an engine on it he gets a powered
sailplane. What makes me
thinking that Wrights plane was not a powered plane, but a motor glider
:-). A selflauncher to be
excact. Or a touring motor glider.


Kaido


"John Shelton" wrote in message
thlink.net...
Kill Devil Hills. Yeah. That's the spot where the Wright Brothers became
famous for inventing powered flight thereby relieving mankind from its
burden having to travel around in wheeled vehicles or confining their
flying
to short hops in gliders carrying no payloads. From that point on,
commercial transportation, special cargoes, and warfare would be
dominated
by the powered aircraft and those gliders that they strapped engines
onto
would sink into the toybox.

On Thu, 10 Jul 2003 13:34:01 +0300, "iPilot"
wrote:

Interesting.

If one takes a sailplane and mounts an engine on it he gets a powered sailplane. What makes me
thinking that Wrights plane was not a powered plane, but a motor glider :-). A selflauncher to be
excact. Or a touring motor glider.


Not even self-launching. It needed a bungee launch even with the
engine running.

--
martin@ : Martin Gregorie
gregorie : Harlow, UK
demon :
co : Zappa fan & glider pilot
uk :

No, it did not need a bungee; it accelerated and launched fine from
its "railroad track". The weight-assist mechanism was added later for
their flights in Dayton, because they had trouble laying out a long
enough track.
Best Regards, Dave

"Martin Gregorie" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 10 Jul 2003 13:34:01 +0300, "iPilot"
wrote:

Interesting.

If one takes a sailplane and mounts an engine on it he gets a powered
sailplane. What makes me
thinking that Wrights plane was not a powered plane, but a motor glider
:-). A selflauncher to be
excact. Or a touring motor glider.


Not even self-launching. It needed a bungee launch even with the
engine running.

martin@ : Martin Gregorie
gregorie : Harlow, UK
demon :
co : Zappa fan & glider pilot
uk :

On Thu, 10 Jul 2003 23:05:36 GMT, "Dave Nadler \"YO\""
wrote:

No, it did not need a bungee; it accelerated and launched fine from
its "railroad track". The weight-assist mechanism was added later for
their flights in Dayton, because they had trouble laying out a long
enough track.
Best Regards, Dave

Thanks for the correction. I knew about the rail obviously: its in the
picture but (mis)remembered the falling weight catapult being at Kitty
Hawk as well. I've lent my copy of 'Kill Devil Hill', so couldn't
immediately check back against that source.

I wonder if the replica flight attempt will have a catapult handy in
case they get a calm day?


--
martin@ : Martin Gregorie
gregorie : Harlow, UK
demon :
co : Zappa fan & glider pilot
uk :