Bonus Jet glider demo weekend

At 17:56 28 April 2011, Dr. John wrote:
I think it is time for a Jet Sailplane Racing League. Here me out
and I promise this is not heresy and might even be a boom to the
sailplane community.

That's just what we're afraid of.

Jim Beckman

On Thu, 28 Apr 2011 10:56:19 -0700, Dr. John wrote:

I think it is time for a Jet Sailplane Racing League. Here me out and I
promise this is not heresy and might even be a boom to the sailplane
community.

Isn't this ass-backward?

The idea of calling a bunch of pilots driving jet-powered aircraft round
a tiny three-mile circuit 'sailplane racing' is just a travesty. We have
a hard enough time convincing the general public that a glider can do
more than fly round the airfield for a few minutes as it is without
something like this being called 'sailplane racing'.

To me a soaring community[1] requires mass participation. It is never a
few sport celebs making big bucks entertaining all the Joe Sixpacks
slumped in front of their goggleboxes.

[1] Soaring community, PLEASE. We are, or should be, a group of actively
involved pilots up there and doing it because we want to, not to
entertain a bunch of couch potatoes while making some promoter rich.
'Sailplane community' makes as much sense as 'Cricket bat community'. The
sailplanes are inanimate for chrissakes, so no way can they form a
community.


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |

Originally Posted by Martin Gregorie[_5_]

On Thu, 28 Apr 2011 10:56:19 -0700, Dr. John wrote:

I think it is time for a Jet Sailplane Racing League. Here me out and I
promise this is not heresy and might even be a boom to the sailplane
community.

Isn't this ass-backward?

The idea of calling a bunch of pilots driving jet-powered aircraft round
a tiny three-mile circuit 'sailplane racing' is just a travesty. We have
a hard enough time convincing the general public that a glider can do
more than fly round the airfield for a few minutes as it is without
something like this being called 'sailplane racing'.

To me a soaring community[1] requires mass participation. It is never a
few sport celebs making big bucks entertaining all the Joe Sixpacks
slumped in front of their goggleboxes.

[1] Soaring community, PLEASE. We are, or should be, a group of actively
involved pilots up there and doing it because we want to, not to
entertain a bunch of couch potatoes while making some promoter rich.
'Sailplane community' makes as much sense as 'Cricket bat community'. The
sailplanes are inanimate for chrissakes, so no way can they form a
community.


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |

I thought there was a bit of tongue in cheek in the idea, it gave me a chuckle but I would actually like to see something like this evolve. It can't hurt the sport. Lighten up Martin.

Walt

On Apr 28, 7:03*pm, Martin Gregorie
wrote:
On Thu, 28 Apr 2011 10:56:19 -0700, Dr. John wrote:
I think it is time for a Jet Sailplane Racing League. *Here me out and I
promise this is not heresy and might even be a boom to the sailplane
community.

Isn't this ass-backward?

The idea of calling a bunch of pilots driving jet-powered aircraft round
a tiny three-mile circuit 'sailplane racing' is just a travesty. We have
a hard enough time convincing the general public that a glider can do
more than fly round the airfield for a few minutes as it is without
something like this being called 'sailplane racing'.

To me a soaring community[1] requires mass participation. It is never a
few sport celebs making big bucks entertaining all the Joe Sixpacks
slumped in front of their goggleboxes.

[1] Soaring community, PLEASE. We are, or should be, a group of actively
involved pilots up there and doing it because we want to, not to
entertain a bunch of couch potatoes while making some promoter rich.
'Sailplane community' makes as much sense as 'Cricket bat community'. The
sailplanes are inanimate for chrissakes, so no way can they form a
community.

--
martin@ * | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org * * * |

A common psychological experience just happened to this thread. So
many RAS threads get “off course” and crash, and this one just did.
The FAA has a term for when aircraft do this…. CFIT (controlled flight
into terrain). Pilots get distracted by something “important” and
lose track of where they were in relationship to the surrounding
terrain, and crash, which NTSB statistics show is 20 times more likely
to occur than mid-air collisions. Pilots have good intentions, but
sometimes forget the most important rule of flying, “Fly the airplane
first.”

This thread is all about a non-traditional way of getting GLIDERS into
the air… with the use of an on-board jet turbine engine. It has been
a fascinating thread. Suddenly, something else “important” to
GLIDING, the drop in popularity / lack of public interest in the
sport, has gotten the thread off course… because someone lost rack of
where they were in relationship to the sport. We do have powerful
need to attract people to our sport. BUT, one has to remember that
our sport is all about UNPOWERED flight….. GLIDING, also called
SOARING. A jet, or a lawnmower engine, or an electric engine, or a
Pawnee are all just means of getting GLIDERS airborne so they may
spend their day GLIDING / SOARING. Jet plane racing is NOT gliding or
soaring.

I was glad to see that a separate thread was started on the “jet
racing” concept. I hope it stays a separate thread, because this
thread has been so informative and interesting…. bringing up all sorts
of things I had not thought of, including a jet providing a way of
getting a glider to a distant wave, and all the FAA intricacies, to
mention a few.

GLIDING is at a fascinating point right now. For years the primary
ways of getting GLIDERS aloft has been either from a ground tow with a
wire or rope, towed behind another aircraft, or self launched by a
relatively unreliable (compared to other power sources) engine. Now,
today, we have huge advances in electric motors and batteries, making
electric self-launching gliders a realistic possibility, and we have
Bob Carlton blazing the way with the application of small jet turbine
engines for self launching gliders because of huge advances with small
jet engines. Both have their advantages and dis-advantageous. As
this thread is about the application of jet power for GLIDERS, I hope
it continues in that path.

Bob T.
19

Guys, Yes the jet sailplane Racing League is a spoof/Joke. Some of
you take this way too serious. There is ZERO chance of a Jet Racing
League. All I want is a JS-1 pure sailplane when I race in the 18M
nationals someday. I'm a soaring bird at heart but love to dream the
impossible. Congrats to Bob Carlton for giving us one more option
that might attract a few new pilots. Anything new is better than
nothing.
John

On 4/29/2011 5:22 AM, Bob wrote:

GLIDING is at a fascinating point right now. For years the primary
ways of getting GLIDERS aloft has been either from a ground tow with a
wire or rope, towed behind another aircraft, or self launched by a
relatively unreliable (compared to other power sources) engine. Now,
today, we have huge advances in electric motors and batteries, making
electric self-launching gliders a realistic possibility, and we have
Bob Carlton blazing the way with the application of small jet turbine
engines for self launching gliders because of huge advances with small
jet engines. Both have their advantages and dis-advantageous. As
this thread is about the application of jet power for GLIDERS, I hope
it continues in that path.

Mostly I agree with Bob, but I'm going to pick a couple nits, anyway ;^)

"making electric self-launching gliders a realistic possibility"? Good
news - they already exist and have been in production for several years!
Maybe "viable alternative" should be substituted for "realistic
possibility". I expect Dave N. to also point this out.

Bob Carlton is blazing the way, but I think it's very important to note
he is NOT doing it with "huge advances in small jet engines", but is
using a proven, conservatively designed, commercial engine that has been
around for years. This is not an exotic or "upgraded model" engine, like
he used on the Silent glider, but a real aircraft engine for aircraft
that carry people.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)
- "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation Mar/2004" Much of what
you need to know tinyurl.com/yfs7tnz