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EDITOR: Rich Grigsby CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: Carol Price EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS: Sharon Grigsby. Phil Warrender ILLUSTRATIONS & LAYOUT: Mark Allison STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS; W. A. Allen. Leroy Grannis. Bettina Gray. Stephen McCarroll OFFICE STAFF MANAGER: Carol Velden'aln Cattw Coleman, Janet Meyer. Danielle Della. Wend Tuffle. USHG:A. OFFICERS PRESIDENT: Vic Powell VICE PRESIDENT: Vern Roundtree SECRETARY; Kay Brake TREASURER: Lloyd Llcher USHGA REGIONAL DIRECTORS REGION 1: Vern Roundtree. Jeff Johnson. REGION 2: Walley Anderson. Jan Case. REGION 3: Trip Mellinger. Dan PoyntElf, John Lake. Alex Dl.noan. REGION 4: Sieve Thome. Lucky Campbell. REGION 5: none. REGION 6: James Cruce. REGION 7: Mike Zlaskas. REGION 8: Dan McCabe. REGION 9: Vic Powell. Dennis Pagen. REGION 10: Skip Smith. REGION 11: David Broyles. REGION 12: Jim Aronson. DIRECTORS-AT-LARGE: REGION 2: Lloyd Ucher. REGION 6: Kay Brake. REGION 8: Bill Allen. REGION 10; John Harry Robb. HONORARY DIRECTOR: Hugh Morton. EX-OFFICIO DIRECTOR of USHGA as we are a clvlslon of NAA: General Brooke Allen.
Hams.
The United States Hang Gliding Association. Inc.. Is a division of the Nallonol Aeronauttc Association (NAA) which ls the official U.S. ,representative of the Federation Aeronautlque Internationale (FAI), the world governing body tor sport aviation. The NAA. which represents the U.S. ot FAI meetings. ttas delegated to the USHGA supervision of FAl -reloted hang gilding activities such as record attempts and competition sanctions. HANG GLIDING mo~ozlne Is published forhang gliding sport enthusiasts to creole further Interest In the sporl. by o means of open commur'!lcollon and to advance hong gilding methods and safety Conlribullor'IS are welcome Anyone Is In, vlted to contribute articles. photos. and lllustrotlor'IS concerning hong gilding activities. If lhe moterlol Is to be returned. a stomped. selfoddiessed return envelope must be enclosed HANG GLIDING magazine reserves the right lo edit contributions where necessary The Assoclo· lion and publlcollon do not assume responsibility tor the molerlol or opinions of contributors HANG GLIDING magazine IS published monthly by the Un11ed Stoles Hong Gliding Assocloflon. Inc. whose malling address Is P.O Box 66306, Los Angeles. Calif. 90066 and whose offices ore locoted at 11312~ Venice Blvd .. Los Angeres. Cotll 90066. telephone (2l3) 390-3065. Seoond-cioss postage Is paid a t Los Angeles, Calif. HANG GLIDING magazine Is printed by Slnclolr Printing & Utho, Alhombto , Calif Subscription IS ovQlloble only as port of membership In the USHGA, o member-controlled educotlonol and scientific orgonlzotton dedicated lo exploring all facels of \Atrollght flight Membership Is open lo anyone In· te,esled In this realm ot tught Does for lull ~ I p ore Sl6 pe, yea ($16 for foreign oddmsses); dies 10! Associate membel$hlp ore $10 per yeor. o1 whlCh S7 ore designated for sti::JS<:rlpflon to HANG GLIDING magazine. Changes a address should be sent six weeks In advance. lncl~ng name. USHGA membeohlp nl..l'l'lber. previous and new address. and o molllng label from o recent Issue.
Total paid clrculatlon for the
August Issue was 10,300
ISSUE NO. 56
SEPTEMBER 1977
HANG GllDING CONTENTS
FEATURES
12 NOW THAT WE'RE ORGANIZED, WHAT DO WE DO?
by Koy Broke
Investigating some of the problems of the 77 Nationals
20 JAN CASE 22
An inteNiew by Hedy Kleyweg
GOAL RECORD-95 MILES
byGeorgeWorthington
Denied a Goal Record on his first 95 mile flight. Worthington goes f0< tt again and succeeds!
24 1977 U.S. HANG GLIDING CHAMPIONSHIPS, 34
HEAVENER, OKLAHOMA ANNIE GREEN SPRINGS
by Pork by Lloyd Licher
A nostalgic look at the 1st Notional Olomplonshlps
44 THE CONTINUING ADVENTURES OF MUDSLIDE SLIM Or how lo find rain In a drought stricken countiry
46 REGION 8 QUALIFIER
by WIiiy Maykit
48 BREAKAWAY TO THERMALS
by Trip Metllnger
Explaining the ins and outs of thermatlng.
54 NOTES ON MOTORIZED ICARUS II FLIGHT
by Pete Snyder
Helpful hints for the powered pilot
DEPARTMENTS 4 ULTRALIGHT CONVERSATION 4 INDEX TO ADVERTISERS 9 HGMA PRESIDENTS REPORT 10 WINDLINES 11 CALENDAR 16 USHGA REPORTS 18 ELECTIONS UPCOMING, NOMINATIONS NEEDED! 56 USHGA CHAPTER NEWS 58 CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING 64 STOLEN WINGS 67 FLYING BULL bv Bill Allen COVER: Brad White. the current (Ooss Ill) Champion. launches his Mrlchell Wing al Heavener during thei Nationals.Complete resulls and story begins on page 24. CONSUMER ADVISORY: Hong Gilding Magazine and USHGA. Inc.. do not endorse or take any responsibility for the products advertised or mentioned editorially within these pages. Unless speclflcally explained. performance flgvres quoted In advertising ore only estimates. Persons considering the purchase of a glider are urged to srudy HGMA standards. Copyright © United States Hang Gliding Association . Inc. 1977. All rights reserved to Hong Gilding Magazine and Individual contributors.
Dear Editor, Based upon the reasoning that the higher performance kites require more landing space than the standards due to th'eir improved glide angle, l have been experimenting with a landing brake in the form of a small attached to my Kestrel A kite. All were very successful, no problem whatsoever was encounternd and excellent spot landings have been performed by this otherwise rather mediocre pilot The 40" in diameter, attaches to one of the rear wires by way of a carabiner. During take-off and in-fliuht it is stored in an empty can which strapped to one of the down tubes the control bar. The can is open on top, of course, and the chute is rolled and stuffed into the can so that a small part of the cloth sticks out for quick ~irabbing when the time comes. As ! come in for the landing I slightly drop the nose to keep up speed while l pull the chute out of the can with one hand. The air motion does the res1: the carabiner slides up the wires the chute to unfold. When the hook all the at the end of the wire, the chute fully opens by increasing the dra,J on the kite slows it down so that a much smaller l,mding area is required. The transition from normal to "drag chute fli!Jht" is surprisingly very gentle; there is no sud den "thump" as l had expected. The kite still responds to the pilot's motions normal; the push-out for the final stall h,.1s to be just a little harder for maximum effect. While the 'chute "bounces" around behind the kite, no effect of this was noted by the pilot at all.
sec1uentl\102,rac:hutedto for sanctions by the USHGA against for conduct unbecoming the sport. This in spite of Dec1n Paschall' s futile efforts to permission for the fligh1, jeopardizes to open up El Capitan and Half Dome tours as well as all flying in the park l propose that lhe USHGA suspend the. of any flyer performing such acts for a the action (after a heari1riqcrn1cc1minq allegation) so that members can initiate an boycott (where it really hnrts!) if they If Mr. Piccirilli must do such acts to ,Jet parachute and movie-makinti business, his actions be in vain. This letter exprc!SS<?s sentiments of the Yosemite fliers present 4th of ,July holiday. Jack Hobart
P(lscha/ of Service who has, in large measure, put on the line. Additionally, hundreds have flown Yosemite understanding actions are the basis on which the will decide whether hang gliding is a for National Parks. Recently, to a stunt for a private Carl Boenish collaborated with to drop two sky divers from hong taking off from Half Dome. Mr. Boenish permission by the Pork Service for But, with disregord for the possible to Dean Paschal or hang gliding Boenish and Piccirilli went the pennission. '"-···'-·M this is to notify the hang gliding contest ofjicia/s, and those who are with flying site control, that the held by Piccirilli is revoked for ut least Furthermore, Jim Handbury and c101mson, the sky divers, as well as Carl not be hang ratings for at least Fin(]l/y, it is recommended to contest and that C(lrl Boenish be denied use or sites for his film uentures. Mr. shown that his interests lie solely,with his film, that he has no concern for the be,ing ofhanggli,::tin.[;, and that to allow him
Aeronaul Hang Gliders Inc.
.52
Albion Corporation
.57 .. 52 11
APD Flight Systems Arcadia Air Sports Bennet! Delta Wing Gliders
.IFC, 47, 52, 68
Bill Anderson Photography.
.66
Bird Builders.
12
Chuck's Glider Supplies.
.59
Crystal Air Sports
. .... 9
Eipper
Electrn Flyer Corporation .
....... IBC .14, 15, 62, BC
Everglades Kites
.57
Flight Bag Mail Order Co.
.23
Flight Realities . Glider Rider
.23 .. 65
Go-Graphics
.... 58
Hall Wind Meter.
.63
Hang Glider Shop
.52
Hang Glider Weekly
.. 4
Kite Enterprises
.19
Kitty Hawk Kites.
11
M Company
.63
Manta Products
.13, 61
Mehil Enterprises . Morton Enterprises
.42
Mountain 'N' Air Sports
.46
Pacific Gull ..
. .53
Poynter Books .
. .51
Sail Flight Inc
.... 18, 63
Seagull Aircraft
.. 55, 66
Sky Light Flight
62 ... 7
Sky Sports ... Southern California School of Hang Gliding .. Sunbird Ultraligt1t Gliders The Great Outdoors Trading Co.
.51
.1, 60 . .6
The Hang Gliders Bible
.56
The Happy Hanger
.64
The Sky ,Jammer.
.. ...... 19 ..41 .11 ..... 11. 52 .... 8 .. .5, 43
Ultraligl1t Flying MaGhines. Ultralight Instruments. USHGA Wills Wing Inc.
4
... 23
Eco-Nautics Inc.
Volmer Aircraft
I strongly suggest that this simple, cheap and safe drag chute he tested by others it could just save the day in cases of tight landing areas. One more thing: In case of a free fall, the drag chute might be just the thing to get the kik!'s nose up fast this one l have not tested, and l don't intend to. Henry Boessl Rochester Hang Fliers. Rochester, N.Y
.19
Duncan License Plate Frames
Windhaven Emergency Parac;hutes . Wings For Man
.. ... 61 .. !i7
Editor, At a recent Clinic some newly-rated lns,tructors ex1pec:ted to be concurrently issued Observer as a matter of routine. I he.ar that in "it's getting lo he that the next ratlnii. (continued on pa9e 6')
SEPTEMBER 1977
• • • i 11
!I)
knowing what, if any policy USHGA holds on this rd like to suggest that 1) enough and only enough Observers should be appointed to handle ratings at schools, clubs, and flying sites, 2) pilots should have reasonable but not necessarily instant access to an Observer, 3) only one Observer is needed at most activities, the other Instructors and officials working with him or her, 4) regional clubs may need more and should have their own Examiner in that case, and 5) where stubborn cliques unfortunately exist, an Observer may be needed within ezich, A [Jlut of Observers in any area serves no useful purpose, takes up USHGA office time and funds, and dilutes the likelihood of discipline in issuance of ratinfJS, An Examiner and his/her few dedicated Observers can work to[Jether to hold up hi[Jh piloting standards, However, if everyone's friend is an Observer, then everyone can try "puttin[J the squeeze" on a friend to obtain a rating; and if that doesn't work, amon[J an oversupply of Observers, there's bound to be some who're an "easy touch!' Observerships, to my way of thinking, should be issued more on the basis of jud[Jement and willingness to adhere closely to the Hang Rating mies, rather than on skill; and then issued only when there's a real local need, Flyers should not feel their reputation or skill to be less recogniz.ed because they have reached Han[J--IV and haven't been issued an Observer rating, Bill Allen, USHGA Examiner Wilton, NJ-t
Dear Editor, July 30, I 977, ended the USHGA National Championships, This contest was to choose the national champion in three classes from all over the country, Throu[Jh process of elimination, the contest was to determine a pilot who could be considered an amateur national champion, As knows, the contest turned out to be [Jreatest farce in han[J gliding, and without question, was on~ ,of our greater setbacks in glidin[J competition. One equ,llly important reason for the Nationals was the first chance to establish the credibility of hang glider certification through the HGMA, Upon the recommendations of the HGMA, only [Jliders which received adequate certification were to fly in the meet Also allowed were experimental prototypes; m other words, not bei:n[J sold to the public, The outcome, due to the decisions of the contest committee and board of directors was disastrous. It seems obvious to me that the Hliders which should have flown in the were the ASG,21, Phoenix Junior, 160 pus, and the Sunbird Strato Re$Jular, Cirrus 3 in the standard class, If the committee had decided to accept gliders to make the meet even notev1orthi;, they could have taken gliders which a minimum of 15 points out of 28 and above which would have included the Wills Win[J XC and SST, the Cirrus 3, Seagull 10 Meter,
6
Sunbird Strato, Phoenix 8 and the Through obvious of politi, and basic of courafJe, contest accepted t1liders which had ab, zero points of glider documentation How unfortunate for the manu, tacturers who put their energies into proving products to be safe, It was surprising to the lack of concern by many manufac. for the pilots who their products uood faith, The classic example of the glider certificawas the forei!3n entry of the Moyes Hliders. gliders being manufactured in the States but entered throu[Jh called reciprocity, Reciprocity is a sorihi,;ticated term for "you scratch rny back, I'll yours:' The idea being that a forei[Jn m,mt1fa,cturer could have their [Jliders flown in desiq11ed in another Almost as if to prove a point about the pro1iram and the of the victory, the day after meet had one of the Moyes gliders locked into a luffin[J div<! from 400 ft and crashed into trees with no si[Jn of Prior luffing meet were by other Moyes gliders in si[Jns of dive recovery problems. It have been interestin[J had the full luff taken place in front of national television which almost for sure would have shown to th<i public A forei[Jn uncertified convincing the [Jenera! public how the machines can be when our testing and documentation program is to establish the credibility in 9lider It is unfortunate the me<it directors did know that two weeks earlier the Canadian Champion was killed on a Moyes in a not identical, but similar incident; slippin[J into a cliff, and May 8, Boris was nearly killed when his Moyes [Jlider colla1)se:d under normal towing conditions, The question is, of course, could these gliders pass the H(3MA pro[Jram, Since it is easy to criticize, I hope to offer than just criticism and would like. to some solutions to the problem, 1 he obvious solution, of course, is to glider that flies our sites usin[J the ,, Since aircraft must be certified the FAA before they land in airports, I SllfJ[Jest the same for hang gliders, I think that all co:untri,:s should adopt our testing criteria since is the leader in Hlider desi[Jn and the country to attempt certification, sites will require glider cert1fication with hang bad[Je ra!in[Js, The most powerful motivation, of course, is pilots simply not to buy which arnn't When you, the pilot, launch mto it is nice to know that tlrn maneuvers are not the first time they have When your manufacturer shows an adeq1c1ate level of documentation and compli it will give the [Jlider the credibility your of mind deserves. Larry Newman Electra Flyer
Dear Editor, As member of the United States Assrt, as a member of the Han[J Glider turers Assn, as an Examiner for USHGA, an Observer for USHGA and as a hang glider pilot for 7% years l strongly feel the results of the 1977 Nation, al should be null and void for the followrng reasons:!!!!!!! We were told six months ago that all manufacturers had to have the HGMA compliance pro[Jram cornpleted to compete, We were also repeatedly reminded in monthly publications and periodical releases sent to each manufacturer that this point would be enforced to the limit Statements such "if only one manufacturer completes his compliances, then only one manufacturer will compete in the Nationals!' "We are going to tow the line on this issue!' "We are going to draw the line at this meet" ln this re[Jard, we at CGS plunged forward with our compliance program tl1inkinH everyone else was doing the same, We admit we got a late start in that we were caught by surprise with the pro[Jram taking lm1[Jer to complete than we had anticipated, Our biggest set back was the lack of a flyin[J site over 1000 feet any closer than five and a half hours drive, About two weeks before the Nationals, we received not1fication from USHC,A that other manufacturers were also havin[J their problems and total com pliance was not to fly in the Nationals, Only certain major points would be required, For example stalls, dives, structural tests, etc. At this point we had completed but lacked documentation of film of the dewee (continued on pogeB)
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vertical dive. We were told if we did not have the compliance in to HGMA in time, we Valle would definitely not be allowed to fly. was of the opinion that USH(3A was going to up· hold this ruling. Since could not guarantee he could review our in time, he said we h,1d at best 50/50 chance if we sent our pilots to Okla. He also stated approx 9 or 10 other companies had to have at the same time ours needed to be reviewed. We wern told only gliders wilh compliance REVIEWED would be allowed to fly. We decided at this point not to send our team to the Nationals gullibly thinkin9 USHGA would uphold their previous ruling and since so many other compliance packages had to be reviewed. We played by the rules. Unfortunately, usual, it was the same old story rule channes at the last rninute and allowinfJ companies to compete with next to nothing done on their compliances. gutless old USHGA. This is not fair to us nor is it fair to whatever companies had their totally completed. are prepared to take our knocks for not hav· ing our compliances completed and filed on time. But other companies should not be rewarded for not doinn their compliances. We haw, good pilots that qualified at Regional meets and planned to attend t!eavener. Some have lost vacation time that cannot be replaced. At our instruction since we played by the rules given us, we told them to stay home rather than lose more vacation time nd work time with only a 50/50 chance to fly. Talk about last minute change of heart. Once again we have the old double standards of USHGA: We make the mies, we'll enforce them on you, and we may the rules if it doesn't inconvenience us. Or we'll change the rules right before competition be· aft,ff competition starts, if the people we want to win or compete are not inso hot of a po· sition. What a bunch of bull! This is the national organization that represents our sport. This is the organization that the FM looks to to see how things are run. I'll bet there's hardly who at one time or another competed in a USHGA sanctioned meet and wasn't frustrated to tears by the rule changes going on DURING COMPETITION!!!! USHGA
had a prime opportunity to give f'r<c•rlil1llillu as well as help the credi·
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bility of HGMA Over the past two months I hi?,ard quite a few pilots make skeptical remarks about the HGMA test program to !he effect that didn't believe the of the tests nor that the would and could be enforced in any way. USHGA changing the rules again, pilots are going to at our test programs and enforcements. Why should a manufacturer and set forth by comply with HGMA? How many and for that matter government officials will feel certain manulac· turers control USHGA and can have to their advantage? We tried to be honest about our entire test pro· gram. We gave total cooperation to HGMA in the program and we took the whole compliance pro· gram very We felt then and still feel now that our customers have the right to know all about our their characteristics and We know our Falcon will support a 7 "Cl" load cause we did it in our tests. How strong are some of
in th,i the ~1liders with next to nothing way of tests but still competing at the Nationals? Who the hell is USHC,A and WHO REALLY RUNS IT. Thanks for showing the FM you c<ln handle it This us orni step closer to Federal enforcement Chuck President CGS Response to letter by Lloyd Ucher, Meet Director for the 1977 Nationals, USHGA
Treasurer and President.elect. Chuck makes some serious charges and implications which deserve (l public response since there are likely to be other people who hold similar views because o} their position or because they do not have all of the facts pertciining to this issue and were not present when important decisions were being made. It's easy to criticize when the responsibility is not yours, but you are affected by the outcome. There is a propensity in hang gliding to fire off heated letters to the editm without first attempting to find out why a certain thing was done with which the writer disagrees. Someone has to make decisions, and we in USHGA try to make the best ones for the Association and hang gliding as a whole. /n the case of the USHGA competition rule requiring an HGMA Certificate of Airworthi· ness for all gliders, that an effort to behind HGMA's certification progrnm in the most persuasive way at our disposal. It was a comprehensive new program, and one this one could not be implemented in its, entirety in a short time. We thought there might be enough time to begin rigid enforce· ment at the Nationals and issued a number of letters to manufacturers to that effect. For various reasons, some of which Chuck men· tioned, little progress was made towmd certifi· cation of very many gliders right on into summer. Nevertheless, we kept the pressure on and eventually the program began to be taken seriously and there was a gr·eat rush to get behind it. Time ran out, though, and when the returns were in, it was obvious that only few gliders had complied completely. It would not have been a Nationals worth the name if only a few different gliders were allowed in, nor would it have been fair to all the pilots who had qualified to fly in the Nationals but would be denied entry because of factors beyond their control. Fairness is relative, what's fair to one may not be to another. /n this it did seem unfair to the manufacturers who had made an honest to get their gliders but that had to weighed against all the other There are ways for them to capitalize on that effor~ in advertising and otherwise. At the USHGA Directors' meeting held just prior to the Nationals, a phone report froni HGMA was received, without recommendation, simply giving facts on which glider models had certification material submitted, and how HGMA had gmded them on a scale of 1 to 28. The lowest grade reported was 7, but Clll were labelled at least intent to The USHGA Competition and Rules Commit· tee discussed the situa/.ion during the period of SEPTEMBER 1977
Volle hnve been numerous questions voiced the actions of the HGMA regardin(l the irnplemcntation and enforcement of its ailworthi proqram the 19Tl Nationals. Of course, the wc1s initi,1led by the HGMA to help insure and struc!urnl integrity of the nvmufactured by its members. As rnsult of ,m H C,MA the US HCA Bmwd in adopted the proposal that 1111 production uliders be required lo have an Airworthiness Certificate issued by the HCMA in order to in sanctioned by the US! beqinninu with the l 977 Nc1iionals. As d,1te for the Nationals rirew closer, there was speculation whether the USHCA would "back down" from this posilion. Brnke en to this speculation by mailinq a letter of Hung Gliding) to all (published in the ,July rrrnnufc1ctmers confirming Hw position of the the letter said lhilt either HCMA
the various point totals r1iven to chart), by telephone on ,July l It said point totills reflect the relative umount made by the participatin~J companies. clec1r to the committee where a break we foll that specific tu who should fly or not fly them, conflict of interests and thc1t the of the """".'"'''"' Committee in conjunction
IJANG GLIDING
with the meet orqcmizers because of Whether it lilck of knowlcdqc of tl1,: pro1iram, a hast11 decision in difficult situi\tion, or simply that no formal decision Wi\S m,1dC', the is that no line this was unfortundrawn. For many Nonetheless, "what's done done" and ii certainly would not be productive to our in continuing debates, discussions. ,rncl arq1fmenls over what "should have been done. The importimt question is, do we qo from here'! We need the of the USHC,A th11t the Janmiry l 9Tl recornnwndation will be ly instituted al USHC,A s,mctioned that Certificnlcs of Compliance will gliders that ,1vail,1blc for s,ilc or have been sold (to anyone). that submitted documcntatio11 of Airworthiness to the HGMA listed below. Those with the hicihcst points listed first, ,mcl tlw lowest listed lilst ~ Manufacturer
Model(s)
Albatross Aillil1YOSS Delta Winq Electra Flyer Sun bird Delta WintJ Electrn Flyer
1,AA,A,B,C
Wills Wing Wills Wing Wills Wing Manta Ultrnli~Jht Prod. Ultrnli1Jht Prod. Ultrnlinht Prod. Prod. Ultraliqht Prod.
Mantc1 Ultraliqht Prod.
[)
Phoenix 8 ,Jr. Olvmpus lGO Stand. Stralo Phoenix 8 Rcqular Ill 180 Ten Metei
20 19
rn XC Mirnqe Firefly 60, J'M Spyder Spyder 168 180 Spyder 192 Firefly 19:3, Wind lord Bobcat Ill Dragonfly
14
8 8 8
8
Paul man-powernd aircraft has recently received national attention with articles in the August 1 issues of both Newsweek and Sports lllustraterl. Paul is working almost daily now with hang glider pilot and cyclist Bryan Allen. Bryan has pedaled the 95 ft. wing span craft for 7 minutes around 80% of the 1Y,, mile course. Paul esti· mates that can complete the /igure-8 course in 7'/2 minutes. If he succeeds, Paul will have won the $85,000 Krem(.>r prize offered by the Royal Aeronautical
Tom Price, formerly of Albatross Sails has joined forces with Larry Newman and Electra Flyer Corpor· ation. Tom will be devoting his full energies toward research, design, and testing. In addition to beinu well-versed in engineering and per· haps the sports finest sailmaker, Tom h11s compiled a vast amount of information on virtually every glider design produced. Th:s data has been analyzed, graphed, computer·· ized and sorted into design criteria. Alre,ady in the works is an Olympus featuring an ASG-21 type internally cambered sail and an ASG-21 with Oly--type swivel tips. Extensive proto-typing and test flying through the fall and winter will produce new, fully HGMA certified Electra-Flyer gliders by January, 1978. The merger of Albatross and Electra Flyer does not mean the end of the only fully HGMA certified glider, the ASG-21. The 21 will continw~ to produced in Albuquerque, with the price, $1175 remaining the same. The easy flying beginner ship, the ASG-20 will also remain in production with a reduced price tag of $750. As far as dealerships are concerned, all ASG dealers will become Electra Flyer dealers and vice versa, as long as no business conflicts exist
JO
The fellow flying in the photo is Mishe Gochberg, Chief C3eophysicist for the U.S.S.R Aca· demy of Sciences. He was in Australia to study a particular rndio wave in conjunction with the Mcilhourn He called on Bill Moyes and was soon flying Stanwell Park after a on tlrn sand. hills.
Mishe was impressed with towinfJ methods as the land around Moscow is very flat and it would allow him to fly without trnvelinu great distances. After ,1 short stay in Syd. ney, he returned to Moscow where this photo was taken. Bill plans to visi! Mishe in Moscow next year. Russia may never be the sam,i.
ln the Kurt Hoerner vs Bruce Barr, Hoerner wa asking $1,000,000 in damages. In June of 1974 Kurt Hoerner crashed into the top of a 100-foot pine tree, fell out of the glider, and broke his back. Hoerner had borrowed the glider he flew from Bruce. Hoerner, who is paralyzed from the waist down, claimed in the three week trial that the glider was faulty and had caused the accident because of a cupped trailing edge. Chris Wills and Chris Price were called in by Bruce's attorney to be expert witnesses. On
the witness stand both Wills and Price stressed the importance of check of equipment, indi-· vidual pilot responsibility, and the ,1ssumption of risk. Chris Wills gave the analogy of a glider beinu slightly out of trim is equal to a car that pulls to the right. Neither Price nor Wills could find any evidence of a cupped trailing edge in the pictures of the flight. Althout-ih the jury found Barr negligent due to the lack of a cc; bracket, they did not find his negligence the cause of the accident. lfoerner got nothing.
As of August 1, Albatross Sails of Solana Beach, California, ceased to be in business as a hang glider manufacturer. The ASG-20 and ASG-21 gliders and rnplac,im0mt parts will be available still through Electra in Albuquerque. Tom Price, head of Albatross and partner Keith Nichols will be working there with Larry Newman. Tom began Albatross as a sail lofl 3Y2 years ago, where he made and repaired sails for various glider in 1976, they manufacturers.
began the ASG (Albatross Sail Glider). Torn Price h,1s been one of the leaders of the han9 uliding industry in design research and performance testing. The AS(,. 21 is the only glider to have corn-· pleted the airworthiness testing pro· gram and receive the Certificate of Airworthiness from the Hang Glider Manufacturers Association. This is certainly a tribute to the dedication and leadership in our sport exhibited by Tom Price and the people at Albatross.
USHGA President Vic Powell has been offered the position of NAA Exe cu live Director. To 1iccept the post required that he resign as Presi· dent of USH(,A for the remainder of his term set to expire December 31 l <)77. President-elect Lloyd Lieber was elected for the remainder of l 977, effective upon the subrnission of Powell's resignation. We wish to congrn!ulate Vic on his presti9ious assignment with the NA/\, and wish him the best. His contributions USH(,A President are many, and we appreciate all the hard work and leadership.
It foiled to mention the second longest flight ever made in hang glider. Kevin Kernihan of Van Nuys, Cl\ flew his from Cerro C,ordo to 2 miles past Benton Station last July 24. Kevin was flying with Katz which to be the ,Jerry flew 103 miles, landing in the Nevada desert. In the excitement of distance and altitude gain records, we accidently omitted Kevin's spectacular flight. When Kevin reached Benton Station, he was excited about being able to beat Worthington's dis lance, and flew two more miles be· fore landing. It turned out to be like the '\1ood news, bad news" jokes he had beaten the world record mark only to find out ,Jerry had sione 103 miles. Kevin did not carry a barograph, so he wouldn't have filed for a record anyway, which is not to diminish his tremendous feat.
SEPTEMBER 1977
A,/\:, :0
! hH)Llll\Jt,Or1 l'Jr'IV(;,
1:1//1,1 / )[;
rt1anksgiving fly-In
Cha1tanooqa, TN
16, Pleasant ML At-
for NAM[=
HANG GLIDING
11
I
As Director of the orgarnzmg region for the l 977 National and counllng my· self among the survivors of that momentous event, l wish to make my first report, not to the Board of Directors, but to the membership of the USHGA Many reports will he forthcoming on this National Championships, the most generous of which will class the event as "good" ,md the worst "national disaster." I can only hope that all subsequent rnporls will take the same objective of this one, namely to our problems and make constructive changes for 1978, It has been sug· that I not air some of our problems publicly, that the in general is not interested in what and why. If this is true, you can simply stop now; that is your decision to rnake. It is not the right of the organization to make it for you. Whil<'- it is true that competition involws only a very snlilll p<'-rcentage of our mf'-mb<'-rship, the National Championships is our event of th<'- year and this affects our sport's stand· ing with the public which in turn aff<'-cts each mem-· ber directly. For an all-voluntf'-er-low-budget production, this Nationals was not at all. Two years ago everyone would have walked away from it contf'-nt that thin~Js were par for the cours<'-. The fact that ninety-four pilots and various and assorted officials walked away from it discontent<'-d inclicates that we are for bigg<'-r and bf'-ttf'-r things. If all that comes from this event is twelve months of grumbling, thf'-n the months of hard work Region 6 put into th<'- event will truly have been wasted; if the grumblf'-rs are willing to JX)Oi their suggestions and go to work on them limn the 1977 Nationals can be counted a significant turning point in our sport My sumiestions are listed below and I intend to if some of them can be accomgo to work to plished; the USHGA is waiting to hear yours and the line for committee workers forms to the right. Poor weather conditions notwithstanding, I be· li<'-V<'-, on analysis, W<'- will find all the major prob· lems of the Nationals Cf'-11tf'-red on the lack of man· power in official positions, primarily pylon and timers. These areas were undf'-r the direct supervision of th<'- chif'-f judge. This individual's mf'-thods in inter-personal rnlations were citf'-d by the daily exiting volunteers as their reason for not rnturning. My mason in nrnntioning this fact at all brings m<'- to the title of this letter, "Now That We'r<'What Do We Do?" The problems encountf'-red in this very critical area in the comp<'-tition point out clearly that our sport has reached the stag<'- in its development where it is experiencing its first growinq pains. Wf'- have our basic organizational work done. True, much remains to be done in this arna, but a BCJOd, solid foundation has bf'-en laid. What W(J now face, as an sport, is deciding where to go from hern. TI1e. manpower problem <'-xperif'-nced at this meet would seem to indicatf'- that we can no longer
12
'
afford to "sf'-ttle" for "frf'-ebies"; that is, it proving too costly to "grab" at those individuals who volunteer their time and money without at least a fair chance that their input will be positive. Simpli · fied, this statement translates to th<'- fact that cash morrny has to be put into a profossional or semi· pro[Qssional officials proBram for USHGA sanctioned competitions. One look at the USHGA budget tells us that these funds are not likely to be forthcoming from that source. The money has to comd' from competitors, manufacturers or busi· 11<'-SS sponsors or combination of all threr1. If the USHGA does nothinf1 f'-lse for the 1978 Nationals, it must somehow come up with the bucks to purcl1as<'- the <'-quiprnent nf'-eded to run high i<'-V<'-1 compf'-tition, primarily cdectronic timing devices, inter-meet communications, etc. The cost of thf'-se items to local organizf'-rs. Th<'- Competition Rules and officials appointed the Board of Dirnctors for the Nationals must become more responsive to pilots and the prob· lems encountered in competition f!yintcJ. As the organizers for the Nationals we were somewhat in limbo after the event started. Caught between pilots' hostility towards some officials and som<'officials' hostility towards pilots, we would have rw,,for,c,r1 to bf'- cauqht somewhere about a thou· sand miles north of the site. Any future organiwrs stand to find themselvf'-S in a similar situation unless the competition rules becom<'- more specific in certain areas, not lf'-aving such a huge quantity of intf'-rpretations to be made. In th<'- future, primary mef'-t officials should at least b<'- pilots and have experienc<'comp<'-tition pilots. The area which most vividly demonstrated this need was in the daily desi9na· lion of compf'-tition tasks. Whil<'- i1 truf'- that tlwre are only numb(ff of possibilities for tasks, l be liev<'- that only a pilot can get up in the morning, what the weather doing and decide which corn· binations of these maneuvers are most suited for that
It would seem that on<'- of the most important cri lf'-ria for selecting the site of a national competition should bf'- what type of flyin13 is possible there in poor weather conditions, particularly since poor weather and competition seem to come in a pack· a9<'- deal. Heavener, Oklahoma, is a truly fin<'- flying site with good conditions ,md the conditions there arn most of the yc;;r. But we had bad conditions for the bulk of the meet and since man has y<'-t devised mf'-thod of or~1anizing the weathf'-r, perhaps the site selection committf'-e should take good look at th<'- other side of "most of the lime." Some of this competition pilots should also do a little soul searching after this event. I at· temlf'-d the first three pilots' meetin9s and then simply refused to attend any more. "Crybaby" was term heard all too frequently during this meet and it was applied to a thankfully small siroup of pilots who elms<'- to complain rather loudly any where, m1ytime dbout their grievances, be they petty or important My point in mentioninri this that loud grumblings within· f'-mshot of townspeople supportin:3 an event have ven; negative Qf/ect on the sport in g<'-neral and hav,1 tendency to lose flying sitf'-s. It was only after I realized that this ~,roup was indeed the small minority that I cided to drop my idec1 of taking up parachuting. thanks in order for those pilots who went out of their way to smooth things ovf'-r with the local people they enrnunternd and notably amonn these indiviclm1ls was Glider Hider's editor, Trncy Knauss. Each re9ion in the ole' (JS. of A. should take the responsibility for all future Nationals of i1l least one elCperiQriced official to the rneet. burden on local organizers somewhat overwhelming and each area that sends competitors should also cough up an official or two. As I see it, if you don't cast a vote in the presidential election you have no right to gripe about the taxes. So these, thf'-n, are my observations from besiddimi; th<'-y are sp<'-cific suggestions to improve what is, at this time, the most obvious focal point for our organization, our national championships. In however, thf'-y say that now th(e time for the USHGA to ddine its lonH· ranrJe goals for the organization and thusly, the sport. Are we to remain content with "gelling by" or shall we get our collective acts togf'-lher and do something constructive with all this activity'?
instructors two way rad
SEPTEMBEFI 1977
I[) I
Olll1dr1Cl\
n11i11g pilol tu the
la,,! ;my · I kite, compactly <1, ,l
M,mtd
where
Don McCabe, Region Director·al·l Treasurer. The Licher, also retained position still vacant.
OFFICE MANAGER'S REPORT Carol Velderrain's report included current USI !CA membership fi(Jures, showiniJ 3,81 Members, 4,061 Associate Members, and 155 Family Members, for il total of 8,027. This was a nel of l 8% in six months. The renewal rate had been [i2'!i, durin[l that period. Total distribution Hong Gliding magazine includinrJ 2,300 newsstand copies, was l 0,270 per issue. An Offirn Mam1gement Committee wc1s established to help the office staff deal with some of its operational problems. Alex Duncan was appointed chaimrnn of the committee.
TREASURER'S
The USHGA Board of Directors held one of their semi·annual meetings on ,July 15·16, l 977 21! Wilburton, Okldhoma, jusl prior to the of the N21tionill C,liclinr.l ships. Thirteen of !he 25 Directors attended the meeting to deill with il typicill ilgenda, althouf)h some of their actions were quite There follows surmnary of actions taken that might be of interest to the general membership. Copies of the complete minutes for the meeting are ilVililable to any member upon request to the USHC,A office with self· addressed, stamped (24c) envelope.
CHANGES
THE BOARD
A number of varnncies on the Board had been filled by mail votes, as follows: Trip Mellinuer, Refjion :l; Don Krueger, He,iion 7;
The Financial Statement for ,June 30th showed assets of $.S9,040 including $34,013 cash, $11,897 accounts receivable, and $8,831 inventory; liabilities of $66,633, including $7,419 accounts $1,168 taxes due, and $S6,444 unearned dues; and a negative net worth of $7,59:l. The net operation loss for the first half of 1977 was $7,l 02.
COMMITTEE The last half the first of the mee1ing was (fovoted to meetings of the various USHC,A committees On the following day, the committees gave with recommenda tions for action by the Directors. The signifirnnt ones by the Roard summarized below:
COMPETITION Bids for Nationals due one year early, by summer Directors' meeting where selection will be made, if possible if not, within 30 days thereafter. Period of Nationals to nm for 10 days, from il through the of the second week. Bids for Hegionals du(! in
time for announcement of selections to bP made al winier Directors' meeting. Class 3 in Ndtiorrnls to be open to limited number of entrants who meet minimum experience re· quiremcnts of including 10 hours. 11,mg IV rntings to required for all Nationals pilots. A pro1est fe<? of $ES was set, to be recoverable if the protest is upheld. Protective head gear required by rules to be as per lJSH(,A specs. No bids for the 1978 Nationals had been received. Dennis said he would obtain one for a site in !hat the Site Selection Subcommittee would rnle on by August 1:)th. ReuiJrding the competition rule requiring an I lC,MA Certificc1te of Airworthiness for all gliders, it was decided by the Directors, upon recommendation of the Commit1ee, to admit all US production \Jliders in the 9T7 Nation als for which timely submission of certification packa,ies had been made to HC,MA, with exceptions for foreirJn ilnd nonproduction gliders because they were outside the purview of the HCMA certification program. The H(,MA had called in report on certification packages received, without recommendation, b111 ,Jiving the preliminary grade assigned to C'ilch, on of l to 28 (the grnc!es rnnged from 7 to 28) with one of three categorizations ranging from certified down to showing good intent to The decision based on rmmy factors, including the communication and expense problems, and the desire not to penalize pilots who had no control over the ccrtifica1ion of the manufocturers of their gliders. Howevcir, it felt that this should be the last compromise and that this rule would be rigidly enforced for ,111 subse quen1 USHG/\-sanctioned events.
TRAINING COMMITTEE A program and method for the certification of hang schools was ildopted. A US! !GA Approved Method of Instruction was also adopted, which includes the use of wheels or skiis, protective holding bars in a school, and special way, inspections. Guidelines for the operation of hang gliders adopted and will be pub· lished, including general ones for pilots, ones for instructors, and recommendations and precautions. Basic Instructor ratings, with expiration dates will be issued through USHGA Regional Directors only. The Basic Safety Hules were amended to add standards for conducting tandem (dual) Advanced Instructors will be allowed to issue !fang I IV ratings. The of helme1 standards was debated the result that that all helmets used in sanctioned contests or advertis,id in Hang Gliding meet Snell 70 requirements was ferred back to the committee.
AWARDS COMMITTEE
The Directors that attended the ,July /Jon McCabe, Jan Case, Rohl>, Alex Skip Smith, John Director), Dave Broyles, Anderson, Lloyd Uchor, Vic Powell, and Kay /3mke.
16
The statement of purpose for tbe Ed Gardia Trophy, USHCA's hif)hest noncompetitive award, was revised. It is now award,id annually to someone who has made a unique and outstanding contribution to the science and
SEPTEMBEP 197i'
technique of loot launched ultralight flight in the l J.S. It was votf!d to award the Trohpy to Hichard N Miller for l .loycl l .icht'.r for 1'!76. E1ile,; 1lw Lilien!lldl I Awards were rc;vised to allow the lleclarntion of turn point for flitJhts to bC' 1rn1de verb,,lly to the before the fliqhl
l lSJ delcqatc to nldinu committee, instrnctecl to ilcldin\l for shift control hilll(J qliders. the conrnliltec> to investiqille the mechanics implemenlinq for lrnnq qlidinq
for I long 2!>'X,, such th11t the full pas1e rover price incrcilsed to 50; and fees were established follows: Lilienthal AwMds, $!,; ll,rng ll ratinq, $:); HansJ Ill, $JO l!an,1 IV, $1 V, $20; Rasic Instructor. $1 ll: $1 and Sporting ,Jiven expendi· acid one skiff nwmbt!r, provide cost·of livinfJ raises to the office 1111d staff, pay for more contri bution to Ifo11H Gliding, and ensure tl101 continuation of fulkolor on the maqa· The of cliunqes was ,,vno,·1,,r1 to hold the net openiting for $'),()()() and provide M surplus for l 97S tl111t should lmck up to F,imily Members; (,lidinq
The followinu persons elected U5H( iA officers for calendar yedl l 97S: President Vice 5ccretmy
Kay Alex Duncan
President Vic Powell reported that lw had been offered the posl of NA/\ Executive Director and if i1 was confirmed, expected in Scptcmli<:1, he would llilvc to rnsiqn U~iHC,A President. To cover this likelihood, WilS voted to Lloyd Licher Pwsident for the rerrrninder of l ()/'/, effective upon llw submission of Powt!ll's res.iqr1i11ion
Tlw cmmties includinq Reno, Nevada, and II transferred to ,me\ 11 wspc·ctivPly. Heqion was dissolved, lrnnsfcril1(J lowc1, North South Dakota to Hvqion '/, Nebraska to Hc,Jion 4, and Kansas to lfog,on (, The lforJion Director position was lriinsfen,•d to and one Hefjional I lireclur position reallocated from lfoqion :l lo Heqio11 l 0, lo take effect with the
It was vollid to d0sign11h'. Lloyd Licl1t>r Kay illl Cmnmiltee with the power of the Board, to until the next Director's meetinq
e:l,,clioll
number of were approved, $] information kit, USHGA pos· USHCA Chapter l'rns;r.im Life Membership cc1tc:cJory qivcn lo the Bylaws and Orqani 111ticm Committee to mail ballot to so amend the bylaws, seltinq the f(,e $250
absorbed
Lloyd I .icher
The five; Directors positions for 1'l7S were filled by the election of David A11derson, Kc1y Brake, ,John Harris, Lloyd I .iclwr, ,md Harry Hobb. Bill Allen 1@1 siqncd his Director C1J.l.c1rrie position for the bal,rncc: of I ')Tl, David Anderson w,1s elected to fill the position
In view of tlw sisJ•niliecmt $7,l 02 for the first half of
hmds
the
The cL:rtes and lorntion of Hw next,,"'"'"·'" mcctinr5 were February l CJ, 1978, at welcome to D,mver, Colornclo. Members iittcnd spectators ~
l!J\NC, (,LIDINC: ma1v12inc
t,e1m,;,cn1s you interm1liom1lly thro11s1h the National J\cromiutic Assn. (NJ\/\), Aernnautique Internationale (FA]) \i,ison between pilot 1rnd llw public ill(l hm1g qlidinsJ ,11 ,Jovernment levels ;;pply for mmnbcrship in the United
division of the
I !,mg C,liclit1[J Associc1tion, Inc
N/\ME /\GE
ZIP -As ,1 full member
of l!ANC CUDINCi ma1,1a11nc, pilot liability insurnnce,
all
of HANC, C,UDINC3 ma~101ine, and most but.isc:ription to I IANCi GL!IllNC,
is available ONLY
part of membership in the Assrn.'.l,rtio111.
17
to Region 10. Th(' twenty Directors are chosen from the various regions dccording to USHC,A membership population in each region, so as the membership percentaries change within the v<1r· ious re[]ions, the apportionment of directors must also chrmge. The two out of four Director positions expiring December 31 from Region 3 will be re· placed by only one Director position, leavinq :3 with rather th,m 4 Directors.
• I • I • I
' •
I
The terms of 10 Regional Directors expire on December 31st Listed below are the re. gions which need to nominate candidates, the names of directors whose terms expire this year, and their attendance records while in office. Region 1: Vern Roundtree, attended 4 out of 5 meetings. Region Wallace Anderson, attended out of 2 meetings. Region Trip Mellinger, attended O out of 1 meeting. Region 3: Dan Poynter, attended 4 out of S meetings. Region 4: Steve Thorne, attended O out of I meeting. Region 6: ,James Cruce, attended 3 out of 4 meetings. Region 7: Mike Ziaskas, attended 3 out of 5 meetings. Region 8: Don McCabe, attended 3 out of meetings. Region 9: Vic Powell, attended 4 out of 5 meetings. Region 10: vacant Region 11: Dave attended 11 out of t, meetings. Re(lion 12: vacant Som.i Directors' ·at·Large terms expire on De· cember 31st also. Directors,at-Large are elected by the Board of Directors. However, some of those whose terms will expire are from regions which will be electing new directors, ,md therefore should possibly be considered for nomination. '11iese listed below. Region 3: Lieber Brake Region 6: 8: Bill Allen To nominate someone for Director of your region, please fill in the coupon below and mail it to
From Our H~rla·ws Article Section 1
USHGA, Box 66306, L.A., CA 90066. For a nominee's name to be placed on the ballot, he must receive nominations from three separate people and send a letter of verification to USHGA stating that he will serve if elected. 11 important to realize that serving Director is a heavy finan· cial burden. Traveling to and from Directors' meet· ings and other obligations are piiid for out of the Director's pocket unless the region he represents provides financial support. He must attend most of the Directors' meetings to effectively represent his region. If he doesn't attend, he limits the USHGA's ability to perform business due to quorum requirements.
Due to lack of leadership in Region 5, that region has been absorbed into surrounding regions. As you can see in the accompanying Region map, North and South Dakota and Iowa are now in Re· gion 7. Nebraska is now in Region 11, and Kansas in Region 6.
Protects and your sail clean Made of 1111,,..r"'""'""' Other changes in apportionment are that the counties containing Reno, Nevada and [l Paso, and 4, have been re·assigned to respectively. The Directorship from the defunct Region was assigned to Region Also, Region 3 must lose one Director, and that Directorship will be
Nominee's Name USHGA No.
batten. discounts are available.
Address State
Has nominee been told he is check space. I-] Member's Name USHGA No.
"The affairs and business of the Association shall be governed by a Board of Directors consist· in[] of 20 Regional Directors and S DirecDirectors will serve two· tors-at-Large. year terms and will nominated and elected by the membership in the regions in which they · side. The Directors·at-Lar[Je shall serve for a term of one calendar year and be elected by the Direc· tors of the preceding year at their bst meeting for that year. "Regional Directors shall be nominated and elected only for those regions where a vacancy scheduled to occur. No Regional Director shall be re-elected until he has less than one year of his unexpired tenn to serve. At the time of nomimition, election, and during his term in office, each Director must be voting member of the Associa· 1ion in good standing. Any voting rnember can nominate as many voting members as he wishes for each scheduled vacancy in his region. Voting members receiving three or more nominations will have their names placed on the election ballot unless they so decline. Annual elections under this section shall be conducted by mail at such time to be completed prior to each January 1st." For your convenience, please use coupon below.
Zip
nominated and verified that he
to serve't lf so,
Address
) 363-0840
State
18
I I
SEPffMBrn 1977
rl1is ycJ;ir, sorrrnwhcne, hm19 qlidf-ir pilot is goinq to !ow up, catch a llrnrrnal, ;111d fly out of sight. It may hn yo11 f3n preparnd to
H
L
L
ND you glider.
l<ite
with floats
Bout Releusc with carabiner l(ite pulloy bridle information package. residnnts acid 5% sales , all orders require 50% deposit.
Y,1u (()()k to llH' ,\IJ Jik(· .i hrdl /\ 1q;ul.n ( ,H'dl \\'ii.1! d(l \'<lll du 1-vlw11 \',111
IHrn\dl\
How did you fir!it become Involved In hang gliding? My first con1act with ii was in 1969 when l skied with Jeff Jobe in Washington. He and a friend used to fly ski kites and 1 thought they were crazy. I was really trying to get them to cool it. Then in 1he fall of 1972, Lee Sterios and I went to a ski show in San Francisco with some friends from Denver. Jeff ,Jobe had his kite hanging up and told us people were jumping off hills with those things in Los Angeles. Our eyes lit up at the thoutiht of summer sport for ski areas. After an entire eveninq of brainstorming,one of our friends said he'd finance lhe project provided we'ddothe re.search. We moved to Denver and after months of researching, writin~{ proposals and putting a marketing idea together we went lo Colorado ski areas to present a package on how to tum a ski school into a sky school and ski instructors into sky school instructors. It looked beautiful on paper and now it would work but then. But by that time so many people were excited about the idea that we went ahead with it. We put Chandelle to~Jether and built a and in the meantime we were 1111 to fly. me, tlrnt is. I had no intentions of flying. I was cm earth person with both feet planted solidly on the grouucl. No way was I going to fly.
,i
What made you
decide to fly?
Everyone was having so much fun. [n Golden, Colorado, I' cl watch these ,Juys climb up to the top of Green Mountain, run, get into the ,1ir, fly and land. It was beautiful but they couldn't tell me how they did it. Accordin(J to them it was a "go for it" thing. Well, there was no way I was uoin[J to get that high off the uround and wonder whether or not l knew what I was doing. I had no aviation t1",ckr,rr,,11n,rl so I didn't understand the principles none of us of what was going on. None of us did had any aviation
20
It was snowing when [ first tried it in of with an 18 ft. winu thci t we I ,ad built. f ran dow11 the hill with a helmet hanqinu clown over my eyes, lhe kite picked me up ,md [ knocked over a friend who was filming the fliqht. When I landed I thouBht it was great fun bul gave no serious thought to it. While in Colorado we became involved in people how to use lhe kites. We put a lot of time into puttin1i together a progression, starting with the and up. They built me ,r little 16 ft. kite which I walked around wi1h lot l was scared to death and would walk around with it for days before I'd i1 up. Then I' cl get all ready to fly and the wind would switch. So I'd pack up and walk to the other side of the mountain and the wind would switch ariain. But that was fine with me. I really didn't want to fly.
I started teaching the first couple of students that came throuuh and could gel anyone else off the qround safely and because l knew, in princi pie, what hc1d to be done. Rut after about three or four weeks of teachinH people I WilS sham,Jd into No one WdS hilving problems; everyone WdS learnin!J easily. So I figured I was coordinated euough to be able to learn too. off hills that were too hiuh. The wns about 70 ft. high and very steep so I would immediately be about 60 ft. off the ground. And sinni I had no conception of the ide<1 of flyintJ in and flaring out, I kept droppinu in from 10 ft It was awful. Really traumatic. But I was determined I was gonna leam. There was strain of ego them that, my God, I can rlo anythinu they can do. The (Juys were super bu! when qet up there to help me there was so much emotion. I'd have trouble pickinn the. kite up and say, "just pick it up." The thing was that, even thou~ih the kite was 32 or 33 that's a third of my weirJht. And I'd pick that thinu up and
I'd qel tired almost immediately. What they didn't understand that "jus1 picking it up" took abso luldy everythinfj I had. I ended up in tears couple of times mrd they were frustrated they couldn't see There's about aviation ['ve seen ii happen with lot of different people, wilh teachinsJ brothers and and wives and husbands. It's too tense. It's just not the kind of thinu you teach a loved one. You get professional to leach them.
Do you encmuage other women to That\ been my little personal thing other gals [JC! into flying. I've seen many who wm1t to fly. They come out to the sites and like most anybody who comes out to watch, say, "l would love to do thal." But then they immediately give themselves all the reasons why not. I'd never have the quts or it's too expensive or I don' l have the lime. When they see me ti iat takes care. of part of it lhey realize lhern aren't any limitations. I don't come on a brute with mv hair in and lookin\J about thirteen old. I hear thinus like, "Oh mommy, that little kid's it. 1l do it too'?" It's fun. So, I've encouraged girls who've shown interest. Most qirls into it because of guy. It's really neat when a girl comes in all by herself because it means she wants to fly because she wants to fly. My main problem in being a female pilot weiuht. If glider weighs over ]2 pounds l get it on the top of my car. Ami the one real thing about this sport lhat it's you and your wing. If you can't handle it all by forget it. gliding a sport of finesse and as the equipment develops we're going 10 have more and pilots. And we're goin[J to find more pilots. for this l lhink women are oriented and
SEPTEMBER 1977
sporl but riiJhl now two thin[,s stand in the w,iy lhe of the ,rnd the lrnininq I ech niqu'"s inlens<\ there rmmv crnolions involved, !l's 'Tm ~ionna mv foel off llw sirormd m1cl mumrnv never lold me I coulcl do that" Yurt swim, you c,m ride, you can w;i]k, vou ci\n fly 1111 ilirplane with ,Jn Cll(jim•, hut you flyinfJ foolL11111drnd lw,wy menial commit men! Om ,;tudcnls who h,wc studied birds ancl who hilw philosophically lived flyi1 tS] just pick up qlicler,, nnd fly no problem, But us emthbound people menlill l'rn f,1irly convinced lhiil 90'){, mental ,111d 10% physic,11 The !()'){, il
h,,
rc11l heavy J 0% bul in the 11cl1rnl w11lchin[J thrnuuh the hann r<1lin'.1 ,1]rnc1dy !here nwn!i11ly pro, Yu11 c1 supcr,coordin<1IC?d
ClllY come throuql1
!he basiCJ(JCk
and he hc1s
heck of
tinw pro,iwssinq quickly he can'I fly with the birds, J !e's used to mus activities mid nol tlrnl kind of sport I think wo1rwn in 11 couple of qoin~i to find lhcmselves flying well in competition, I think 21lso (Joinq to more! women instructors
over and let me pick up her ~1lider which wciqlicd and I thouqht, 'Wow, font11sticl I lift iii Drnmilc1 said lwo thinqs to me,
pen lo other people and have see11 I 1anq qliclinq pilols qel mi1l uptiqht
She said milkc them build yoll a silicler tlrnl yoll can
in han:1 ,md hilvc never been in competition, Since I IH?Vt,r carl'cl
<1nd don'I try lo keep up with them or you'll
d mini,Milll[JC, !l's BO! some" where bctwet!11 I :i and 120 IL It's teeny only pounds A little luy, It's a fun ulidcr but I !tad heck of a time le11mi111i to fly iL l discovered I had 1p;, of sl,mdard rnqallo reactions and this thinq really moves ,md moves quick, l'rn findill(l tllilt the lr,lllsition from standard
Windlord,lypce macl1ine to 11 hi(Jh"perfonrnmce kite I've WJt to do more flyinrJ to uct used rr,,Jf'iiion,, Y011 fiqurc 1;m1'rc ,1 f lan(,i lV ltmid\c hot n111chinc it's blow lo when yrn1 discowr it's like learnin,; lo fly ,11 kmsl 10 hiqh nod,,n,,"''"'' winq, It's not tltc kind of l<ilc you Ci\n
all over You really need to hours of ,1irlinH, in befon, you Gm
times at lhc beach, oncf' al your ,md then take to
my heroi1w, l had doubts that I would ever become II rcallv good flier just all I could sec these usin(J their muscles to do wh,11 they doing ,md didn'I haw l :iO pounds o( lhC',n we wc:nl lo Country, to the l 97:l Lilicnlhnl nwe1 in !he that bodies
,t
C,ordo for
cross rntmtrv fli\Jht Pe(lp]c in 1he for c1 winr111ccd to seriously how rnuc:111lwy fly beforc they '.lO lrnckinq off to buy the hollest thinq happcnin/J Well, ! like lo win so I don'I lilrn to compete in 1 rnn' t wi1 r J jusl avoid it allo'.iethcr Com pdrinq m1;sPlf to otlwr people holds no w1lidily I cmly with myselL I think cnJoy this oriented world so muclL It's I don't h11vc to compel<' with them and lhev don't h11w to with me, And I clon'I feel any real competilion even with lhe ladies th,,rn coming up in tlw I don'l likc compel thal in(l yel if I d1a\lcnf1ed then\ want to win, I rc,11ly don't like whilt it does lo my hcdcL l'w seen it h11p,
comp,eh>-d in
11\Joul cornpclinq, l held the slorc down wlrika the others flew in th<' meels, II Wi.lS 1.1 1mitter of who could ,1t the store since we couldn't all \JO al once, I'd ldl llw flllYS lo qo 11liec1d ,md I'd take my tum next time, I' cl rrlllch ml her lilke 11 flvin~1 trip This Hcqiomil meel my first ience but I clon't lhink I'd been missi11ri much Bv the second d,w and inti and rnrryi11n on and , , cverythir1ql I asked fow pc'ople if illl\/OIIC ewr h,1d fun <11 these l11inqs, Those I 11skcd told me no, it's cdways like this, So why do Bui competilion is qood PJLmd lh11t's impor tanL /\]llrnunh \ pcrsoniilly don't need ii, cornpeli lion where you show lh<: rest o[ the world wlmt your sport docs, But on<' lhimJ I do mcels scrvinsi pidtforms for 111anufact11rcrs, And 111 thouqh the m,mufocturers showc11sc hil'; its place, competition should ide111ly be for pilols, I kind of IC'cl di tl1e expense of pilots risiht now and I'd like lo that cl111nqc The Mastl>rs Tourn111mc11t ill (Jrnncllather Mm1n\21in seemed lo \ic, ,m
/\lthouqh han,i '.JliclinsJ is my whole life, my first priorily not flyinq, I have a Joi of other thi11qs l lilw to do with our business i\nd lhinsis happerri11si in lhc bay l don't do ,mvthin,1 clsP ,mymmc I don't ski and h,wcn'I waterskicd in Flyinsi, qrmt bul not m:lm1lly beinsJ out on lhc hill, rily th rn oy,1 ble pa I love lo tccicl 1,rnd I love lo lr,dp other people thmucih the st11,ics, I rc<11ly qct off on people learn, S,unc with skiill[J, ! used to be out on 1hc hill leachinq all day lonsJ and by the time the end of the d,iy ci\rnc and everybody would [JO the I w,ts too tired I siavc cvt?rythinq of it
There arn nine us workinq in the shop four full linw and II ,c other five p,,1rH\mc Five of bcin,J supported by ti re shop !hilt's lhc wav we make our livinq It isn't somcthin<:J wc'rn doinn hobby We're lucky we11thcr means that we c,m fly yec1r round We h,wcn' t ly hacl ,my rnin in the last two yc,1rs we h,wcn'I of
really had a winier lull from the \msirwss stilnd point People nmnin<:J h,11111 ulidins; business often have somethinq else qoinq on llw They have to, That's wally the only Wily to do ii if you'w !Joinq to make sorrw money, I've tlrouqht 11bout all the differenl tltinqs I could do besides bcinq involved in hanq uhdinq and I've also considered the facl that l rnake some doinq a lot of other thin,Js, But not with the of people you meet in hanu qlidinq We haw uroup of people who rcallv woukln'I want to do anylhin[l with their lime, They're
HANG GI.IDINC
(co11tm1u:d on poqe !JO)
George Wort11111nto11 fly111g liis /\SG
, hand-painted with
came up short twice a'I: Benton Station order establish the coveted Goal Record. The ,..,.,..,.,,,....,,, in the
22
butterfly design
Whenever you h'Y to do a difficult task, you always try to judge the help or hindrance you're going to i,et from the elements. Don Partridge c1nd I needed good weather if we were going to make some good cross-country distance. And we were disturbed. At 8:30 AM. there were numerous beautiful CU's along the spine of the White Mountains near White Mt. Peak. They were as solid and pretty as you'd expect to see at I :00 P.M. The fact that they were perched there so early strongly suggested to me that the whole area of our cross-country would be plagued by overdevelopment (black cumulonimbus clouds and rain) by the middle of the afternoon. Don asked me if I wanted to cancel today's flying. I replied, "No, we'll try to fly. Who knows, this might be the perfect combination of weather factors. After all, we know so little about the visible weather conditions that might be the most help." It is about 80 miles from Bishop to Cerro Gordo. By 10:00, as we were nearing the Cerro Gordo area, the clouds along the whole 95 rnile spine of the lnyo--White mountains had multiplied alarmingly, especially jnst north of Cerro C,ordo where they were beginning to get quite dark on their flat underside. And yet, by the time we reached the launch site itself, the trend toward overdevelopment had seemingly reversed, and the cloud conditions continll(!d to improve. By the time I launched ,it 12:49 P.M., they were picture perfect. I had trouble deciding when to begin my crosscountry. If I left too early, the thermal frequency and strength might not have reached a level to keep me from landing directly below at Keeler. If I waited much longer, the winds might increase to 15, 20 or even 25 and make penetration very diffi· cult. Also the overdevelopment which I still expected around 4:30 might block my progress and force me to land early. As it was, the wind and weather conditions were excellent at launch. The wind was corning straight up the slope about 7mph with gusts every 5 or 10 minutes created by thermals passing through. Upon assembling his kite, Don discovered a large ding in the leading edge tube. He knew that it had
been caused by his semi-cartwheel landing in the turbulent wind th8 previous day. I would syrnpa· the thize with Don, because I Imel wrath of the same winds that day, though some :io miles away. How8ver, I had been luckier than Don, and my AS(, suffered no visible damage. Ifa and I were equally disappointed that the damaged tube kept him on the ground. My take-off was clean, and I immediately searched for some lift. Tlie launch site at Cerro (,ordo is good. ,Just below takeoff, the contour of the mountain forms a perfect bowl which facilitated the formation of thermals and ridge lift. I had diffi. cully maintaining altitude working the bowl that so I turned directly toward Keeler and flew straight out from the launch site. l am always apprehensive about the relatively shallow slope of the mountain between the bunch and Keeler. l always worry that I will not make it to Keeler and will be forced to land on some ste8p rocky hillside in turbulent air. Today I worried more than usual, because l was slowly losinfj altitude. I probably came no closer vertically to the mountain than about 500 feet, but that seemed very close. After I had lost 3300 ft, l saw that I could reach Keeler and just re· sifjned myself to landinsJ there. If you can't catch a thermal at the higher altitudes above the higher terrain, you certainly can't expect to catch one after you've descended 2/3 the way down into the valley. So I was a bit skeptical and unbelieving when I hit lift. It was mild at first and I almost feared to tum in it because of the danger of being blown back toward the mountain. But the thermal was a true oasis in a desert of inhospitable air, and as I went higher, it kept on Betting stronger.
"I looked straight up . . and assessed the of being suclwd up into the cloud. This is a real live in my mind because I came very close to i<illed in 1973 in a sailplane when I was sucked up into thunderhead."
Whcm l catch thermal, I try to make continuous perfect circles until I get a stronq indication that lift is much better in one segment of the circle than another, or until th,i vario needle begins pointing to zero or under. This is often inexact, because thermals in the White-Inyo area are turbulent and full of gusts and surges. When the vario begins reading zero or less, I tum to the direction in which the air if I'm high enough to be that I'm in is moving unconcerned with being up In the mountains. By doing this, I am apt to catch another part, even a better part, of the same thermal or even one "ahead" of the one l just finished working. If I'm high enough, I will fly to the spine of the mountain chain where I believe the thermals gain their greatest height above sea level. If the CU's are directly over the spine, that is perfect, and l will try to fly directly under them. If they are downwind a half mile or so, I won't risk flying over the lee side of the spine because of the danger of sink Today the conditions were ideal. The clouds were acre size and directly over the spine with bases of about 15,000 feet. SEPTEMBEP 1977
genemlly than elsewhere along the Whiles. I was not disnppointed; the next I circled up to 15,300' which was cloud
possible problem ahead. The (100 and blacker with mile until, over the spine c1breust of Benton it solid overcast with rain and lightning the Whites. ! couldn't be sum lift or sink Similar over the have been good half the lime ,md bud half lhe lime. now of While Peak I c,111,Jht some stron11 lifl under a black cloud and climbed to 14,000' I straight up, which is hard to do in flyinB prone, and assessed the danBer sucked up into the cloud. This is real in my mind becm1se I very close bcinB killed in 97:3 in sai!pl;,11c when I up into Biant thunderheacL /\lso, I know lot about the inside of black clouds havinfJ flown in them on numerous They often don't think
l' d push the control would stdy be1wecn to 200 fl/min down, 14,(XlO' for about I 0
ilt NS When l landed the Mitchell Wing here ,July only 17 yem-old lad came out lo my twelve other people had landinB but I had to them out later. carloads of people of one couple, the reason they l think, really remiJrkable.
HANG GLIDING
h<1ve a Erkeli Erkeli Francolini, ,1 nrouse-likc bird ori:Jinally from Ethiopia. This bird has of hdwks and such, so it the sky. It saw when l mere in the sky (maybe SOOD' above Benton) and sounded loud alarm which the spond to. The owners, Mr. and Mrs. ,Jenner, came out into their yard and looked up to the bird intently qazing. They my which painted like butterfly. They jumped into their and drove a block the airport and watched land. Lookin~J bi.1ck on this 4 hour, l I minute flitJht, l can say that it the toughest fliBh! I've made. It wasn't the (I cc1n think of 20 others that rec11ly me) even dan,ierous. Rut il was hard work which seemed lo last a lo11ri lime. could have flown another hour, maybe two, but I felt very emotionally and physically exhausted. Excitement l.ime like this always overwhelms the exhaustion, however. I pleased to have properly established the Boal record I thouqht I mc1de ,July and I especially pleased thitt I had done it in flex winfJ m;Jc1lh ,...-
INSEFH PHOTO: Honry Braddoci<, JI CJ1arnpion, flying a Maxi, launchos Jrorn tho top of Hoavenor's !t Mt. f'otoau. The meet was dorninalod tho now famous Br~ddock from ,Jim BradIi. dock,
I
Grouse Mountain. "Do you have any C1jmments nt?" I asked of them that he
for another
For the
thermal action on the made ii hard at times, J Brown hooked thermal for a two hundred fool gain, the first one witnessed during competition, and got back up to launch leveL Torn blew a crosswind launch and suffered abrasions on with his an arm and hand, About one o'clock a shaded thermometer in the zone reached 110 and spectators could see the clouds punch stream Thunderheads
out west there was noise and electrical flashing as the cumulonimbus As the tried soaring in One of feet above Poteau ing like he get up and go somewhere else when the wind up to a non,pen, etrable and Zarracina descended verinto the he
Monday morning but and winds from the southeast at ten miles an houc It was the cornmence, ment of the second week of flying, A 60 per cent chance of rain was ,md gar, truck worked in area, been W(!aring the made the the wind, the wind showed a north Around and the air over the came turbulent Some acted like standards and couldn't pern:itrate to do the the target, Their under the downed machines toward the stand and while the meet was Tom Goodman and Steve several minutes, up to 200' above the hill, and landed on top with a smooth and move that brought Harkins of he
factor, flights in to allow ished their second
Some {continued on rmge 2H)
SEPTEMBER 1977
I Ono ol tlm ?1 f'l1om11x 8 qunlif1or10 wlm flfJW 111 tlw ment, Don Waltor lmad,; out toward tlio sl<,ri,; Pl1olo hy fan11 a Wille; W111C) Class on lhe
HANG GLIDING
:.;k1r ns toward
~ l1ollfJrt Reed, tlyinq a Cirrw; 111, wo11 ll10Claros I ancJ llucrnno llw orily 1,1101 111 lhe or IIH) Na tiorinls to repe:it tl,e v clmy F'holo by [) Jeff Mauna11, wD;1r,r1q [lett,na SuncJancu otf. ,Jeff
placed towth in tlm Unl1m11m1 (Ill), w,111 flex winq 110 and Photo Flntlrn;i
scores were showing the results of the first five flights in class II: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
7. 8. 9.
10.
n
12. 13. 14. 15.
Ted Henry Braddock David Beardslee Dick Mike Zarracina Chris Perkins Dave ,Jeff Anderson Roy Dean Sean Dever Dennis John Brant L E. Tom
Phoenix 8 Moyes Europa Phoenix 8 Phoenix 8 Phoenix 8 Phoenix 8 Heron Phoenix 8 WillsXC Phoenix 8 Phoenix 8 Phoenix 8 Phoenix 8 Sirroco
From Lminch
6491 6'.172 6184 613S 6116 6111 6016
turns ··-maximum time from must pylon aton
ti960 5922 5798 5732 (5577 5565 5443 5372
,Jokes w~re made among the as to whether the next champion would be flying a Phoenix or a Phoenix. Bill Bennett certainly seemed to have a clear field. In when the was over, thirteen of the were Phoenix pilots. After a flying com· July 28th. I under gray luminescent and noticed Keith Nichols wasn't limping as much as he had been. Keith had hurt his foot on a rock while launching himself into the from a tra· peeze. There were still lots of short made. Dave Beardslee foiled to make the foul line and far from the third he'd been occupying. Dave Braddock did the same thing, though he'd b,ien the standard class. "I flared too and didn't make it across," he said mournfully. "I out come or come
From! uurv;h
Task ClosecJ.course distance maximum duration. Maximum time launch to base line 4 minutes. The course from to #4 to be flown at max LID in minimum time. The pylon scoring to be modified time ratios of fliers at each in the landing zone is pylon. A safe required to task scoring. or crash will decrease fli(Jht task score by 50 percent.
or down, the written protests were as thick and many had f!One home by the time the last in heat number seven 29th. That thunderstorm at dawn that flooded the streets of H.eav,mer and turned the
area into a mudhole. after ten, and so did the usual over3:04 that afternoon the cut was made for the the pilots in class two. Dave Beardslee was li1ived he was number And so on the 1977 National tasks for the {contin1wd on paqe 30)
half a dozen in the Heavener Rodeo, and ,Joe Greblo were among those who rode calves, and reports had it that with training, had been backflipped, dismounted by his steed, The citizenry loved it At 10:07 morning, Jim Braddock made the first competition flight on his glider, just as he'd made the first flight at Thunder a month earlier, Jim one, say, and got the had a bullseye, Dave Beardslee went and then Dick Reynolds, All of them hit the tar· get Then conditions to ly, I went up to the top to and arrived there as the wind was becoming from seven to fifteen miles an hour out of the southwest Chris Perkins remarked that it 30
was a not unlike the one whfm he got his felt that this fifteen mile flight should be the cross, A young ell, watched the launches from the hill's lip hundred feet below, Several elk had been planted on the mountain by Mr, the who was also there Leonard made low lcmnch on his "If there'd been a rattle,. snake there it'd have bit " said Mr, Ward, On his next flight, Jim Braddock level with the launch all the way out to the course, Once he worked thermals with his Maxi to as much as 400', effectively "blowing out" his Tom and Dennis "That's heats there were
my the year old maniac, said Dave Braddock as he watched his father soar the course, "The kid in the The to be ,Jim's brother heat Jim out for first tested class two, Next been young Dave position back up to number two in the standard class, That class was won a£Jain Hobert the first time has and unprece the Braddocks and their
(co11/inued on J)(lge 33}
SEF'TEMFlER 1977
ol llrn clust howl rlnys. hioh wincls. kickr,d 11p ne;irlly tl1ur1clmstorm put an to this tit,on IJy 13ett,na 1°mkrns. survnyrno tlm from tho top ol llw rid(Jo. S,ilurday morni11u. I hat it rnrnrnl ,lmJ 1110 southwer;t buforn
Photn l1y Flottin,1 WIJO WOil ?mi
lo luimol 1 111,1 C,ray /. Chico. foalhms ruffled liy
sknl()ton of Ill
m::inulncturcr':; to 01 f;tkt) t1 hack l'lioto lly llell111n C,rny II [)()rn1t1 fnl lrnc ol n dout1ln 1·1n,1<lrnJ Ci!(Jlc ol tlw; 1'11010 hy 10 pilot. 11p an cm tlw; 1101. hrco1y Clklal1om11 flottrrrn nrny
?:JO
CUMULA1IVE PLACES IN PARENTHESES
CCD
CLASS I ("STI\NO/\RO" CLASS)
3500
1000 C11m Cum
Place
Pilot
1, Hobert Reed 2. Dave Braddock 3 Torn Goodman 4. Stan Palmer 5 Dan Alban
6 ,lolrn Davis 7. John Taylor B Phil Friel 9 Gil Kenzie
CLASS II (FLEX WING OPEN)
JI 12. 13. 14
15
IG
4 9 B Team 8 CLASS Ill (RIGID SURFACE IIIRFOIL) Brad White John Torn Jett Magnan Dutton
Coan Greg llrazier J>hoto hy Hert1n,1 Crc1y
Team 3
2 10 12
7ii0 1lfl3 1315 877 0 0 ()
(4) (1)
1000 985 (3) 750 (2) 1000 (5) 72fi () (6) () (71
1000 750 386 (41 (2) 715 (5) 500 (($) 250 (7) ONC
(3) (1)
(2)
(11 (41 (31 (51 (61 (7)
750 961 749 1375 1500 888 DNC
1000 784 I 000 800
(2) (3) (1)
(4) (5) (6)
1000 3000 945 ll I 000 758 0
(omlinued /1nm pmw :JO)
rm;p,,ct,voly, 111 l'holo hy 1Jet1111;i Wl11tu, tlin
(111) Spnclc1t1m; ,md pilots pnck IHlt two Witr, Jllrl[JOIIIC!lllS, illld
ctmtrovnr1;1;.-il /\Jat1onnl!;
tor
HANC
,ri
SEPTEMBER 1977
*indicates (now) deceased
1. Miko on approac/1 with Cliandelle Cornp. ciurinQ the 1st Nationals nt Sy/mar Miko hocame one of the pnnupals of tho Pro /\ssn. P/1oto /Jy f31/I /\lien. Soveral pilots lined up for tho Tho I 350' take off 1s upper /ell. P/1uto L>y Cnrol Dnve Ki!/Joume Just lnunc/1 showmg the form that started prone p1/ols flying with feet in wires. However. wit/mu/ kingpost, could put cam/Jcr 111 tile section />y sque1-1z1ng wiros together, lo het/or LID. fl/Joto /)y Oil! /\/Ion. // Matt Colver wings his way wit/1 Uexi-Flier. Chris Wills with trophy, cort;l1cato, anrf check for $300. /hat 1s tho tamest g1Ven at US. Nationals, t/mso compo/!tions since been without comnwrc1al sponsorsl1ip. P/1oto Liy Rill /\/Ion After Um meet, Tom Peghiny tries out Seauu!I Ill. Tom was tlm younQest pilot 111 tlie Nallonals, havmQ to get out of /11uh sc/)()o/ lo attenci. I le was also the only of t/1(: Mississippi. This year lw becamo tl1e only pilot to t1ave competeci in all live US Nationals. Photo /Jy Bill /\lien
1.
1. Cronk in on spot landing. many pilots variometers. Allen. Chris loacfs his "ME HA WI<" VW in the old "/Jar-up" style. P/1oto /Jy Carol Price. Pat Conniry, w/10 then helct the contimmtal U. endurance record of hours min., prepares to launc/7. Photo courtesy Springs. can you rare group photo? next month tor name key. Clwck Stahl explains pilots' meeting. would the number duration of flight, skill in execution of turns lanciing approach and accuracy Photo by Chiocfo. The juciges and other officials to F'l: Polly Bennett, Bill unidentified, Lloyd Ucher, Tom (seated), Kocsis and Unda "lrorn Seagull" Kiceniuk, Jr. demonstrati:1s the capal)ilities al the Icarus V l>etween competition flights. Photo by Poynter with friend Micriel/e observed the competition anci diet little promotion for his tJook, Hang Gliding. Photo Bill Allen. Matt Colver for tl1e spot with Flexi-Flier. Note first prototype of his father's audio variometer. Photo by
1. Lee Sterios in foreground helps Mike Larson put sticky-back letters on one of the early Ct1andelle "Comps." Note telescoping crosstube and junction box. Photo by Bill Allen. 2. A wing loading handicapping system was introduced at the meet. Curt Kiefer weighs in as Lloyd Lieber (L) and Pat Conniry look on. Photo by Carol Price. 3. Dave Gibas, an extremely enthusiastic flyer, later became the first of the '73 Nationals competitors to die in a hang gliding accident. Pt1oto by Clara Fernandez. 4. "Oof!" Terry "Sky King" Raymond hits the spot with Flexi-1'/ier. Photo by Bill Allen. 5. Pilot wrestles with his F/exi-F/ier on take-off. Photo by Bill Allen. 6. Bill Johnson from Montana, one of the earliest hang glider dealers in a time when ''going into business'' usually meant becoming a manufacturer. Photo tiy Bill Allen. 7. Kaz de Lisse horsing around with Donnita Hollanci-Kilboume. On-looker is Rick Carrier, who was on hand to gather material for his book Fly for McGraw Hill. Photo by Clara r'ernandez. 8. Soon-to-be first National Champion C/1ris Wills nails the spot. At right is Herman Rice of True Flight, and left, photographer Clara Fernandez. Photo by Bill Allen.
38
SEPTEMBER 1977
(con/1n1wd from poqe Jt/)
HANG GLIDING
pros. They really love the sport and the lmsine,~s crew.
main
bm,lness
have c1 lJOOd solid clicntclc: h11lf o/ our business is the support of the flying community. li isn't the new pcorilc. We teach ii Joi of stud(!nls but we run fewer students through now tlrnn we ever
hive. People serious about hm1g glidintJ come through our course becmisc we dren't marketing towards $20 come lry it once student. We have a complete course that includes two sessions in the shop and we try to orient the thousJh the students were going to qo for their pilot's licmse. They learn ii lot of theory before they go out there and do it. We sell ,1 high percentaqe of wings to the stu dents we teach. Every one of our guys knows the wings they sell. One of the thin!J that's drawn us to scllinl] all different manufacturers is that we've found people come to you and ask you what they should buy. You can sell them anythin~J. Tire nc~ flying public will buy whatever you say is rit1ht he cause they've pl21cecl their faith in you But what we've discovered is 1lrere circ different kinds of pilols and different needs. You buy a car you c,m buy sportscm, a Cadillac, d rnidsize, something that goes fast, something t, ,a1 And hang gliding desi~Jn has redched that point so feel that in being able to offer c11l the different kinds of designs with lots of different options, we can ;Jive our customers what they rec1lly want. I think that's why we've grown the w;1y we have. There's more money in teachinq. If we looked at the books dnd decided we had to ~Jo out and cam som(i money l would ,Jo to the tourist trnde lo dec0I for one-shot deals. Tirey' re ir lot with. You them one day, don't hc0ve to worry abou1 servicing them, rntinn them, mid you don't have to worry c0hout keepinq them alive throunh the But this is the love, the hanq community. We're ly not into it for the money. People have tried but l don't think too many sucwed.
Have you encountered many nmnlng
in
One of the things about running il busine,;s like this is that your customers c1lso friends. You hc1ve be careful about your friendships and business relationships clean, sepilThey overlap and it's really hard. rntc You tJet to the point where you're ,iettinq involved in rating somebody c111d you ,ict involved in someone who wants il deal bemuse they're your friend. /\nd you try to keep them from killin,i thcrnselves. It's a real challenqe hutit's worth ii because they're the kind of people you'll fight for. If we drop out of hanq (Jliding, if our little shop disappears and somebody else takes over I don't know Iha! they would care much. l really feel like we have commitment to the community. That's what we !ell our friends who come in and ask for a deal. I tell them if I give tfwm deal this week I'm not going to be here next year. And if I'm not going to be here next year I'm not qonna do you any (Jood. So that's the arfJument for no discounts. It's reality, it really is.
to
What. are your priorities Director?
Regional
We've had very few incidents ou1 there because of lhis. And that speaks l1iuhly for the system.
first priority is in the safety and traininq where my expertise l'rn an instructor. We've put on two very successful instructor clinics in this rngion successful from the standpoint of a lot of information bein,i exchanned. l would like to thls certification system working and ti,1htening up and forming 11 real tight body of profossiorldl in structors. The isn't goin9 lo grow until we professionalize it. What I would liketosee happen is for;, profcs· sional team of clinic instructors c0nd examiners to go around aml run symposium -type clinics that strictly educational and rn,mdatory for instructors to go throuf.Jh As a result, the examind .. lion end of the certification could be more strinqent. You can't ll!St somebody unless you tell them ox,1ctly whirl you're fJOing to lost thorn on.
we c1 han11 rJuy sponsors him as guest has to be with him at all limes. It's really strict but we don'! want to lose ii. /\nd it's loo bad in way becc0usc there are certainly a number of uoocl pilots capable of flying the site. But like Yo semite going to be Ihere for a Jong, long time so if we just a couple of behind us with· out i!ny hc0ssles, things will be able to loosen up. At Funslon our club mies were adopted dS park guy who will not policy. ultimately if we cooperate, tho pmk come ,mcl (Jive him ticket. We've never had to do that but we have the option. We have called them but usually thin9s are all clec0red up hy the time they arrive or at lc<1st upon their arrival things get mellow.
Tell us littl<! about your efforts toward securing gliding in the bay
We're about lo open Mount Tam, which will be tho first California park to permit l1ang glid
For pilots trnvelinq
IV, soaring experience and
Chandelln Minnick, Geor,ie Whitel1ill Our first regulated wets place called West1,rke, 21 set of cliffs south of For! Funston. We had our first bay area death up there in 1974 il quy who f!Qwn couple of times and was by no means an experienced pilot we went to the city council and told them that if we hm! control of the ared we could make sure tlrnt only experienced pilots would fly there. We presented them with draft of whil! would be a good regulc0tory system and set up a rating system. The Fellow Feathers rntinq system was in use be· fore the USHC,/\ hang rating system started. We actively rating pilots in 1974. Th," c\!y council gilve us six month lric0I period and we haven't lmd an injury out there since 1974. It's il sponsorship place. You have to have at least Hang Ill and IO hours of soaring. The way we set it up is when you have your 10 hours of airtime people who are three sponsors w,0 stlc1ko pilots who sign their name to your card. lf you screw up you take your sponsors with you. nobody screws up bccc0use nobody wants three people mad at them for 1101 following the rules.
ing. Again it's probationary and we're qoinB lo have to be really cool during that negotiating period. The real key on this one is that if we keep this cool, the whole res1 of the park system will open up to us. This is the experiment the hig one. If we pull this off c0nd show them that we can self.regulate and not trespass we'll have it made. We're goinB to monitor it very carefully but it's one of those mountains that, if somebody wants to screw it up for us, I'm afraid it's avc0ilable. There are tons of potential places beaches, training c1reas that could open up. /\ncl in all site negotiations I've been doinsi we're becoming an accepted recreation. That's the name of the game. We are taxpayinH citizens and have a rir3ht to use our parks for whatever we like. J\nd hanq glidinH is perfect! We don't pollute, we don't hassle anybody and it's deliqhtful spectator sport that others can enjoy too. The main problem we have with sites right now is liability site insurance. Ifs so important but we won't get it until we cc1n show insurance compdnics a way of 1nakinr3 money off us. Once we can (continued on page IJ2)
40
SEPTEMBEf< 1977
((011/inw:d Jroni pone tJO)
convince them lhat ifs a lc1rgc base with small risk, they're to nmke money. Just look al all the that go for thal insurnnce if we c,on it upl
r can do it upside down."
spect for the sport. For whatever reason but usually be;rnuse you've heme! about all the nasty, horrible things that happ<:n. You're intimidated; it's new so you're bliing very careful But somewhere alonfJ the intennediate after six months or year and never havinri hurt yourself or broken your tJlider, or if you hav<: it wasn't anything serious, you stop tuking it serious ly. That's what's huppening lo people. l think lhc,rc's intcnncdi<1te svmimrnr' and then there's advancr!cl synclrorne. syn rlrome is the ov<:r confidence without any kine! of knowledge of whilt you're rietling into. You see this happcnin5J to pilo1s all the lime. They soilr, they're gettin5J altitude gc1ins, they'H! doinrJ some really fabulous flying without ever having prob !ems so finally their little computer says "Well shoot, there men't renlly any risks." They're the ones who break the ,mns and the lesis i\llcl furnish us with most of the ~ilidcr re[J<1irs. We <111 hold our breatl ,s as we watch each pilot (lO through that sti\ge. docs. l remember well when l was I wa;; invincible. I had it rrnidel It was so easy to soar out there ,md I could land on time and ... piece of cake. And then all I qot blown over one day ,md realized lhat I wasn't p21yin~1 atlention. r just didn't
you e1u::m.1111terlng any difficulties in site regulation? When we all knew everyborly it was e,1sy We knew who was r;1ted and who wasn' I. But not unyrnore, it's just gotten pus! tha1. Forl Funston is still rcguluted. You just cun't show up und "Hey. l've been flying for thre<, ye,irs so let me " We strictly enforce the USHGA lbng Hatin,J system many guys who claim to hav<: i'lll this flying be hind them land in the water. I've even hi'ld n couple of guys come up to me and Jell me they hnve HansJ V rntings. There's so much l?fJO on top of tlw mountain. You may be scmed to de,ith but you're uol going to admit it to anybody. Most of us are gettinu pretty nood al when somebody's seHing up a glid~ er und isn't with the process. Somebody that flies as much you have to fly to be a compe tent pilot doesn't have nny problem putlin,J a wing together. Or doesn't ~wt blown over in the set up urea
Out at Funston we all monitor and our qenernl philosophy when you fly there you're rnonitor. So even if the uuy who was suppos<:d lo show up tlrnt day doesn't qet tlwre, if you're out there fly ing, you do it. And lh,1! doesn't mean you stand there ,111 clay and not fh;. ff everybody spends IS rninutes lom11n,J people in it's no pmblern. Al our club meetings we've t21lked about how to handle tbe uuy who says, "The hell with you. I'm to fly ilnyway." We c11l to go diplomc1cy as you can and if that doesn't work you get other (JUys, casu,11ly pick up the quy's kit<: and move ii from the take~off drea. We started a rumor very early in the gi1m<: that we were carryin,1 wire cu Hers. W<:11 this was ;;1c tually sincere. We put out the word that if ,mybody had to cut ,1 sci of wires to keep someone from fly inri tlk\t we, shop, would rnplarn them I a pair of wires cut. It h,ip the word out thilt you just didn't Frnncisco mea or you'd rict your wires cut.
Wc'v(i lost a lot of professionals this year and l think the udvanced syndrome has lot to do with it. I hope tlrnt somehow we ecm uet an awareness !JOing with our Hang IV pilots bccilUSe they'rn the ones ri~Jht now that the st,1tistics are showinq gel ting info accidents. At least a half dozen of lhe accidents l've heard about IMve involved qood pilots, people who c\o it every day. We to look di ourselves. We need to bccom<? more s,1/ety conscious. Tht2 w,1y I look at it is that I can follow into the same pattern they dicl. l'rn not info! lihlc either.
What do you personally do to practice safety? My own formula for keeping mysell dlive never cross two unknowns. A new site and a new piece of equipment, or being tired ilnd new site or heinsi tired and 11 new piece of equipment lf lherc are two unknowns. two shaky thinqs, I won't fly. Thill's my rule and il's rnally, reillly hard some times l re1mm1ber the first time I went to I'd hemd c1bout it for over year. When unloadinq th<: car I realized [ had a brnnd~new h,1r rwss that I'd never flown with before. I almost cried, I w,mted to fly so had. But I didn't and we went on down to Gui1cblupe sand dunes where l blew two take-offs in a row because I wnsn't used
react And then you !Jet through that stage if you're lucky. You survive that part of ii anc\ start seriously il!Jilin. You want to share with ev,2r1.11x,ctv else wh,1t you've just been through cause you illl your friends who ,,re just corning i1110 that HansJ Ill syndrome and you want to "Hey you guys, I went through it." Then they fly {or another ye,ir or two and stmt becoming somebody in the corn .. muni1y. If you've flown for 1hat long you' re sicUinq ii Hang JV and you're flying with all the bif] boys and the bitJ nc1med ,Juys will come in1o town and they'll t,1lk to you. And all of sudden you're biq name, at in your own con11rnmity you're spcctc.d and p,!ople look up to you Then pretty start thinldn~l you're in vincible aqain off to !1. hill and you get gdin don't hilvc your clothes on but you don't worry about it you're invincible. You start doin9 ,wrobatics say, "Well, I've been up and down al least hundred million tim<'s let's if
What
to the f)(~W hdfr)(!SS
I i'llso hilvc confidence problem. When l haven't b<:en flyinLJ for awhile I lose my confidence and sliirt wonderinr.l if r can handle it. And that can also do ii, not beinsi sure of yourself. So l try to maintain <1 balance between being cautious enourih ,incl not qetti11u over-cautious and just plain chicken. There have been times when I have psyched myself out completely and that comes from not flyinu rnou11h our 74 yr. old local pilot hds given me ,1 completdy 11ew oullook on that. Before him if the wind was blowinn l hc1d to qet out there and get into it ii just But Eric's 74 ilnd when I'm 74 l'rn going to be glidinfJ. And maybe I won't fly that much this yew. Maybe not even that much next yedl' but I've got the whole rest of my life to fly. And qettinL< better. The equip ment's get.tin~; better. Everythin,;' s getting better so why be in a big super rush"/
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42
AIRSPEEDOMETER
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SJ::l)T[MBEP 1977
III
' Audio and
In
111c
fo11r for
sew inn
the
left our hero up in Thun Canada. After spcms11ble for the
and the address of the local School for the rlr>n'1Y'1Di1 for very Sus·
minutes
flight down to an enormous area next to the local bar. ,Just the type of our little Weather Demon enjoys. With noliced that it was also very After arriving near evening conditions, and communing with some of the local clouds, Mudslidc!a decided that it would be no
questions at lhe
US. Customs station, he became some· what doubtful to the of his self, impoi,ed mission. Then, in moment of wrung out srrmll black cloud the customs inspector, Sur· the inspector did know in out of the min. [twas all Slim could do to suppress a malicious li1tle chortle coming down with Ralher than wnste his talents in Minne, sota, an arna not well known for its he decided to head for
infamous Polish land, Ohio. Chuck's C,lkkr
in Cleve, Cleveland to find & Polish WW I
saw. Sure e,,,uu::i11, warming up his new tmgine for his tailless, Rumor has it that the little the next noise tar· get for Nader's Riiiders. Polish Chuck is curious, sant combination of Polish and Arnerican humor, !·!e's put his with combination of new,world tech,
and some wrioclqr,ain,ecl addition to the various aspects of this innovative machine, it with machine gun. This way, in Chuck's own words (which were ""'""'vv,,nv translated with the of an obscure little Polish,American "After l the pants off I'll shoot him out of the This aerial exhibition was to be held the 4th motorized meet fanatic, Slim found out that the real action w,is to be at 1-e:nni,y111arna, site of the up, l<e,aional Competition for pair of 44
inq fie.Id, several rnystic energy waves, explaiininq the Powers At the various of Rain, Thunder, that if they did not marshall their forces the next morning, would hc1ve to put up with for an entire week It seemed to be a con, vincing argument for the next morning with a disand downwind conditions, with himself, Slim left amid and sneezes coming from var, ious tents and it
soarable conditions. After hours of started to stc1y up while. The real soarintJ started with s1etting over 1500' above takeoff and stc1ying above everyone for close to half hour. soon, however, the air tu med into c1kin to LA In· ternationaL There were well over a dozen in the c1ir at the same time and of every rnc1lrn, model, and color, from old Ill's to the new current crop of su per,ships, The of the was over hours. Pilots left that evening thinking that ol' Mudslide Slim wasn't such a bad HUY after a!L Not to his reputation, Slim the next morning, bet 1ind him an overcast drizzle for the Rumor had it that Grandfather Mt in North Ctwolina was due for some
SEPTEMBER 1977
below take off al1itude.
Slim had not
l'dot
ln.uncl1 f1rnr tl1CJ crnnor1t plntlorm al I ookout Mt
and curiosi11; c1bout 1he
tions gan1J for the enerqy Mother Nature for cooper,1ll!1q
If Heavener in
HANG GLIDING
enough to make one of only two ladies qualify /or !9T7 N,,t\onals from any Region. Hick Roelke, chispile losing his variometer to the ATV's looked like hot contender, but it just wasn't his clav. topped off his last flight with trne!op landinq, pulting him in 4th overall. Tom Peghiny came up from 10th in the first round lo lst overall in Thus he \-mcame one, of only two in the countrv to qualify this ye,w who Imel flown in all four previous N,,tionals. This is even more remarkable because he also the only competitor from east of the Mississippi to attend the first (possibly the first two) Nationals which wern held in southern California. Region 8 allowed five entrants the N<1tirnials, allocated to e,ich class by relative participalion. This in addition to the four qualifiers from the Regional Championships c1t Mt. more, North N. H. last Au!JUS!. The final standinr;s of livers who quillifiQd were:
by WIiiy Moyklt
Class-2 lorn r1 eqil1ny, <ln way to F1og. fl chn111p1unsh1p witl1 tlw l,ist ru1111ci, str11q(Jl()S willl Sirocco in l1Jrll11lcmcn of a trun slot t;1kc-oll
The New England (USHC,A Heqion 8) rrwet lo qualify regional residents for the 1977 National HanLJ C,lidin,J Championships was held during June 25-27 al Mittersill Hang C,lidinLJ Center, f'ranconii1, N.H. Contrary winds and rain 1hrew out any hope of competition on Some flying looked possible Sunday, but the appearance of distant, fierce-looking squall line put an end to that It was already understood that the meet probably would go in!o Monday, but many flyers left even despite approaching good weather. Monday was beau1iful clear, with light winds favoring the Northwest-facing, 1,250 ft. take ,off. Including some latecomers, competition start,!d with seven people in Class l (Standard), lEi in Class 2 (Open), and none in Class-3 (Unlimited). By day's end, three rounds had been completed without injury. Transportation, due to non-mechanical difficulties with the ski lift, was by a tracked Bombardier ATV. Rides up were almost adven1urous as the flying. The event for 1111 three flights was time (A) to a crossinfJ line and time (B) from there to landing, while the pilot also tried to rnake as many turns possible around two pylons in /igurc-8 fashion. By dividing B by A, and multiplying that times the product of 1.15 x (turns), a raw score was arrived at In the second and third rounds, ,1 landing
46
penal1y of would he subtrnctecl for the pilot touching more than points of his body. (There was no landiny score, only i\ require ment to land within il 300-ft.-diometer circle, this due to a light landing area.) A1 the conclusion of round, the highest scorer in each clc1ss was given 1,000 points, and lower scores "normalized" proportionately. The top placers hy round were: Round 1
I. 3.
Clm:s-1
John Mangan/Bobcat Ill
Rick Roelke/Sirocco
Dave Pinkston/Aerial Tom Per1hin1y/S,iroc:co 3. Kevin Weatherbee/Cirrus 3John
118
ROUND CIHS·t 1. Kevin Weatherbee/Cirrus 3 Ray Cm1ghlin/l-iori,zoi1 2. Mark Torn Pog1hiny/S,irooco 3. Dave Paul Lal.illerte1'Pt1,oenix
l--lighli!cJh!s of the day included Low, the only female competitor, taking a lead of 39 J.3tJ points in the first round. Although she placed l l th and 6th in following rounds, her overall
Kevin Weatherbee/l~irrus John Ma1ngan/B0bcat Ill
Many to following individuals for their hard work, with couple no doubt, regret overlooked· Aguilar, Judtie; Bill Allen, Chief Ends; Ed Ayan, Tree Climber; Bill Blood, Judge; Milt Borden, Steve Corliss, Chid ,Judge; Phil Friel, Chief ,Judge; Mary (,ood Peter Hill, Safety Dir: Ed Howard, Launch Dir.; ,Joe ,laena, Landing ,Judge; Don McCabe, Vince Pylon ,Judge·, Alice McNulty, Pylon ,Judge; Jack Pylon ,Judge; Marilyn Nichols, Chief Scorer: Jeff Orchard, Wimphy Phorbcs, Chapin Pratt, ,Judqe; Lou Pylun Judne: Jerry Thomas, Med Dir.: and Douri Wicks, Asst. I .aunch Dir. Overlaps in duties lrnppcned with the lar9e changeover in volunteers The I-!a119,1r was meQt from Sunday to sponsor. This probably is the last meet to he held at Mittersill, an extremely popular in 197:'), be cause of continuous over nettinu approval !or flvers and gliders on the ski lift. note, at sunset on Sunday a lar;Je group friends qathcred for memorial service for Stuart Soule, Californian who learned to fly at nearby Mt Cranmore, who was probably the first to fly the very lop of Mittersill, and who returned in 1976 as the biggest bundle of flying enthusiasm to hit New
S[PTEMBE!< 1977
I
!APSE HATE AND AIR STABILITY A1rnospheric lapse rate plays major role in the of soaring conditions. l .apse rate the deqree of temperature per l(X)O ft of altitude and will show how stable or unstable the air is. It also tells us what the ground tempern· 1ure will have to be to allow thermals to reach ,1 tain altitude. It has been established that S.4"F temperature change per 1000 ft. incre.ase in altitude is the "dry adiabatic lapse (DALR). It is called dry be cause no cloud will develop in such a condition. lf the l11pse rnte is l(iSS than the DALE, such per lOOO ft, the air is called stuble. S111ble condi· lions produce the hortwn1al movement of the at. mosphere, commonly referred to us wind, and do not promote the developrnent of thennals. If the lupse rate is qrnater than the DALE, unstable con ditious occur which allow lfw ver1icul movement of the 11ir cmd therm,ils to develop A thermal because it is warmer th11n the surrounding air, making ii lighter and more buoyant (See Fi!J l) Also, it will cool at the DALR as it
) 70 Ii
mABlC
rises. So if the lapse mte of th(! air is qrnater tlliln the DAU( the thermal will continue to rise until its temperature equals that of the sur· roundinsi 11ir. The greater the lapse rate, the hisiher und faster the thermal will trnvel. Fig. 2 shows a conventional lapse rnte chart The diagonal lines represent the DALR. On a particular an airplane made temperature readin[lS at varying altitudes represented by line A Note the resulting lapse rate with a surlac:e tempernture of 7:i 0
COLD AIR
Fig.
Birth ot
'1-00011
'.3000!! ?OOOfl 1000ft 0 f[ I I
nocr
9w1
IOOT
was greuter th11n the DALH it a for smwing. At 3000 ft AG!., the ternpernturc in cre11ses with altitude. At this point, a temperature inversions occurs that will stop most thermals from reaching that level. Inversion occurs when the tempernture of the c1ir incre<1ses with the altitude. The next day the airplm,e made another rei\d ing, line B, and the results showc,d that stable con ditions had in dlonsi with an increased tempern. ture inversion at 2000 ft AC,! .. You can expect no thermal activity und strnight sJliding on a d11y like this. Of course you will probably not have the use of an airplane to determine lapse rate, but if you notice it hot ,,t the areu, but cool at the t11keoff site, there could be sonw qood vertic11l movement of the air. Also, your local weather station should be able to give you information on lornl air stability.
fiG 1°
1'.!T
is by no means new to man and ther,i 11re many theories 11nd techniques thd! exist in the field. Begimwrs in this are11 of soar· ing should be awure that experience is the best teucher 11ml that lf,ermals are flown more by foe! 11nd intui1ion than by the written paqe. However, 11 b11sic ground school of thouqht on thermaling technique will help build the necessary foundation for one to develop his experience and intuition on good thenn11l flight.
5000ft
THERMAL BIRTH AND DEVELOPMENT It is interestinq to note that as we are therrnaling, we am really flyin!J on 1he sun's power. For ex· 11mple, when the sun shines without interruption on a dry surface, the surface will beqin to incre;1se in temperature and through convection, heal will be transferred to the layer of air above. This parcel of 11ir will begin to exp,md and decrease in density. If the heating surface is surrounded by cooler qround, the cool air will to force its Wily toward the heating air in the form of il and bre11k il away from the surface. (Fig. 3) Disturb,,nces other than a cold air wedge, such as i.1 pilSSinq or a gust of wind, 11re enough to promote the event. If there unst11ble air, our heated parcel of air will beqin to rise and we have the birth of a thermal. The tempernture in the base level of the thermal is closely relc1ted to the surface tempera, turn, so we om roughly predict how high the therrnal will trnvel by referring to the lapse rate chart of the d11y.
COLO AIR
thermal and itr, subsoqunnt development.
48
Sl:PTEMBrn 1977
Now that tlw thcrnrnl broken dWi1Y from it will with lmriwntal, motion. The hit1hcr it [JOcs, the more: it will expand the c1tmosphcn: will become tl>inner. expansion will the tlwrmal's vertical velocity until tahlishcd. However, if
dealing with of that cannot lrnaqinary markers m11st be placed in the sky r1round you to correspond wilh your chosen landmarks 1hdt you can ou1line the thermal and work your way 1oward the center li/1
moisture mml' humid than swTrnmclinq and hiqhcr than dry liqhtl!r lfliln dry air ,md Depending on the
A variomeltff lakes lot of quesswork out of soarin,J, especially in therrm1ls whern the lift smooth and steady and the hurn,m body cc1n it. Any qlirkr pilot who in lerested in obtaininq the mosl out of his thcrmalinq should There kinds on lhe markC!L Many of in this of I lcmri G/idinri. Index 4) The May included
When
<1nd to understm1d the ditions will help build the foundation nn,•n,,c~,n'
Developin[, the
will lake ;.1b011t tlw
of vortex w11HI d1mct1on: t11c lo11s1t11 of wind velocity
r·1(J
nm mrowr; incli
whothcr or not in sominq specific purpose such or lemning the best AOA the desired performance. pilots fliqht just aimlessly around the sky without pre work pattern for practicin,i dean flyin,.1, to oricmt yourself in relation to lilncl you along with visualizinq ,,our in relation the of lift. It also helps able to oricl1t yourself in the so th21t yo11 for lifl away from your thermal and retllrn to where you if you can not find should have
blown
anytl1i11q lm,1s1i11atiol1 plays
bi,!
in orientation
an obstruction such the row ot However, most thermals consist individual bubbles con1irn1rn1s column~;. These of
very depth of lhe lend to qround level where the the tlwrmaL
don't
HANG GLIDING
your thenmil
arrows i11d1cato
When searchinq for rJoocl ,iround thermals, there visual indicators pilot that heat up quickly and dry and dark can be fJC)Od thermal producers, if they in contrast with their surmundinqs. These influenced by the heat the sun in relation to lhe the anqle of 11nd the amount of shelter from the wind. sirotmd, short VCfJe!atkm, ridge lops, A thermal source will usually produce tlwrm<lls al certain intervals. After each thermal noth inq will until the been heated to
auain "pop off." If you arc flying a thermal column and the lift dies, don't remain in thdt ared bemuse there will be nothing but sink lcf1 as cool ilir flows that into the source mca to replace the warm has departed. The same holds true when a thermal bubble dies, sinkinq air will occur. However, by flyinq a little ways upwind toward !he source, you may be able to locate another bubble that has "popped off". When a thermal rises, it will trnvcl downwind, so don't expect to find thermal directly over its source unless ii a very calm rfoy. Search downwind for the area of lif1. Conversely, if you see another hann sJlider above you and he is in the lift and am not, lryinq searchinq upwind for the lifl. 5) Pmrl MacCrnady, world champion sailplane pilot, says in one of his many articles (Hef [i), "Be cause of the rnqular production of thermals by qood source refjions and because of 1he tendency for upcurrents lo line up akmfJ the windline when there is ,1 pronounced wind shear, it is often best to hunt for thermals strnir3ht upwind or downwind from where you are already using one." On strong windy days, thermals can be found comintJ from areas sheltered from the wind, such 1he lee side of ct ridge or mountain. They are called "wind shadow thermals". However, if the downdrafls caused by 1he obslruction am too i.irmit, they may kill this type of thermal activity. Since cumulus clouds can occur at the top of thermals, they are very good lift indicators. These clonds can c1lso aid us in assessing the quality of the thermal that produces them. Li~Jht milky wisps of c1 cloud can mean a thermal is just st?trtinq to form. A cumulus, larqe in size with firm edqes and a dark, well defined base, usually marks c1 stronfJ thermal. Experience in recognizing cumulus can be obtained by studyinfj them w'""'"" vu,,, ,He'-'" the qround. See if you can fJUCss which one is forminq or dissipatinq, then watch the developmenl over the next few minutes to find out you were rif]ht. If the wind is stronfJ or there is ii pronounced shear line, cumulus clouds can be found stretching in a line. These lines are called "cloud streets'' and are an excellent cross country tool. When flyinq cloud street, be aware that very strong sink may be found between the clouds. Birds can be very useful when trying to locate a thermal. If you see one circlintJ m1d rrn:iintainin,i or gaininq altitude without its he has probably found a thermal, so fly over join him in the lift. Swifts or swallows are nood thermal indicators because they usually hunt for insects carried aloft in the lift.
require a certain type of flying technique that will const,mtly have to be updated as the thermal con tinwilly changes. There are distinctive siuns which you can foci that indicate a thermal nemby. When one winfJ is lifted, it usually means that the ed,ie of a therm,1! is on that side and you should tum in the direction of the lifting winq to locale the lift, Turbulence, buffet inn or heavy sink can mean a thermal is nearby and of course a positive readinq on your variometer verifies it. Investif]ate any lift you encounter, not assuming that somethin(l b<!tter will be found, Once you have qained sufficient heif]ht, you c,m become more selective, Upon encounterinq the lift, try and determine its size and area. The shape of a thermal is not necessarily round ,md the core of the lift can be off center in relc1tion lo the entire thermal. Also, several cores can exist in one thermal. There are many techniqnes used by sailplane pilots that have proved successful in kx:ating the core. They are just as applicable to c1 hanq qlider and you will have to choose the combination 1lrn1 works best for you, your ,ilider and the particulcir the.rmal you are flying in. Let's cover some of the more popular methock When you encounter a thermal, circle and de !ermine what point your vario indicates the best lift Continue flyi11si for another 270'' from the best lift point, roll strniqht for 2 or seconds, then resume circlinq. (Fif], 6) If you are not flying with a vmio, strniqhten out of your 360" for ,.r few seconds every time you feel better lift, constantly rnovinfJ your circles in the direction of better lift An alternative to this flyin(l patk,rn is on the latter part of your :l60°, if more lift is felt, you can straif]hten out and reverse the direction of the !um, (Fin. ) This rne1!1od should be used with caution, howeve.r, because of the extreme amount of arna chanqe that occurs. Note that the "varios" in Fig. 7 are reactinr3 instantly to the lift. Most varios have dd,yed readout which must be compensated for in your !urns. To successfnlly thermal ,the trick is to seek out areas of better lift by const,mtly openinq and
Fig. 6 Try to visualiLo the locstion of the tll()rmnl snd move yoU1 360" 111 the diroclion of best lilt
i=ig. 7 One alternative to the 270" method shown in Fig. 6 is to reverse direction to center lift
FINDING THE CENTEH OF LIFT In encounterinH your first few thermals and learninfJ what the lift feels like, it is more imporhmt to concentrnte on makinfJ srnooth quiet 360° turns in the lift area instead of searchinf] for the center of lift or "core" Get used to the feelinfJ of flyinn in a thermal and devote all your concentration to clean flyinfJ until your turns become second nature. Develop your thermaling skills one by one and ,ivaluate your progress afier each flif]ht. Sometimes, instead of circling, use a series of "S" turns or il combination of straight fli~iht and circling to obtain the best lift. (,et the feelintJ of flowinfJ with the lift, always experimentinfJ with it to make sure you are in the best area. There are never two 1hermals alike and every one you fly will
50
8
Thermals 11ft, the trick
often have many nrem, of to find the best lift
SEPTEII/IBEP 1977
checkinq frn helter lift lighteninq your rrniltiple with Thermab quite oflen wwying intensitit's. (Fig. g)
you should /\!ways be flyinq in straight and level fli9ht while searching for themwls. ln hrnvy sink, fly faster than your best l ./D to away into bet1er In cairn \)Our best l ilnd when lift encountered, slow down to rninimurn sink When approachin,J lhennal that another pilot is usinfJ, ,.1lways begin circling in the direction lw. W,,ich out the other 1111y h,mn gliders ,ienernlly thermal low alti tudcs and to mountains, pilots must rernilill constantly Beware of thc1t downwind l<2g in 360° th,1t could carry you in1o the side ot ;1 mm m Also, therm;ils downdrnfts on 1hcdr outer rm:cur,ct<,rs ;md il possible to "wi th<2 blls" and lose lot of altitude in fow which could pul you right on lop of ridne beninnin;J of therrnul c,m prncllll:c dust devils lhese should lie iivoided the the turbulence the\) bcinlJ drawn into lurbulencc\ down drafts c1nd disori<2ntiltion thnt rnn
Common ,rnd co11rtcsy make up the sumwstions in this article. <1re nol 11bsolute rul,:S 1111d one should never hold his ri,Jhl of w11y lo lhe detrirncnl of silfe flyin(J. Alw,ivs fly ddc11Sively and be wary of the othn pdtlts' next movc:s l "bli11d" (Jlider has the righHif w<1y If ,,ou 1rnothn qlider aml ii obvious that the pilol cannot \JOU, he has the rir_iht of Wily :!. When two gliders approaching head on, , ,ich qlidf'r moves lu his risJhl :l The f1rsl rJlider thc1t enters thermal delcrmiinc·s the direction to circle, countcrclock m clockwise )ther nliders cntcrin!J tlw thcrmc1l should circle the direction the pilol f[ not to ch,mge directions in tlr<2rrnal when other gliders circling with you When pilot tlwrn111l that already fJlicler in it al his altitude, should begin cirrlin,J wide in tlw the direction until be fall into pl;ice either b<2bincl or below the pilot olrcody in the tlwnmrl (Fiq. 1)
nw
0
that you whiJe flyinn therrmils. wind dirnction ;ind mation in the lo!J book such altitude velocit\), cloud conditions, inversion of tops where the\) developing at flyintJ on pi:lf1icubr dm1 This encrliles to the infonn;i1ion when If you fl\) one place all tlw time, will !ind that for wind rlirncfion, the flinht book
Then, \)OU qlide from cumulus to cumulus, \)Our
into the distance to nncJ \)OU when and if \JOU land.
Bihlior1rnphy
L
,John Technique of McCrnw-Hill, New York, 1')71
HANG GIIDINC;
in such there must cl,,rnne his of bank to avo.id \)OU. him to lose th<2 you to yom reteHmc:e h\)potlrnticul flinht using the above rnuld follows: you ,ilide1 below \JOU and '.lOO \)ards awily, climhinq in therm;il By the time you the thermal, the other 11lider \)Ollf altitude. ,Judi.le approach to the so that you arriw, at the <2dge circlinn in tlw pr<2-estdblislwd direction of the other pilot. Do not fly strnight for the because of the interyou will Remember th;it if \JOU dislrnct the other pilot, he may lose the ccntm of lift Si11ce you he~ian circlinii wide and around the other pilo( lw in the he will out climb you he climbs, tiqhten \)our circles movl'. into tire center of lilt, always 9oinn direction you be,Jin to out climb glicl<2r, Im will have to open up his to you throusih, since the lower pilot the ri9h1 of-way Once uroup of pilots <2stablish rc1pport other and undcrst;ind the diquctle of can circle and clirnb ;ind most important of T.M
AERONAUT HANG
INC. USHGA Instruction Phoenix & Training Gliders
Unbelievable low sink, beautiful! Now you can build the APD-1 and
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23 Clarendon Dr. NY 13901
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Michael Pringle (206) 456-5606 Robert 11ocJhola (206) 357-8106
LIGHT
Issues #19 thru #34 (Apr. Nov. available.* Mimeograph copies #HO are available for each. Send check or money order (make payable to USHGA) for back issues at 40¢ each (mimeographed issues 50¢ each) TOTAL$ *Issue t/26 sold out. USHGA', Box 66306, Los Angeles~',~C,A'.:.::901~06:06_.:::::==::::::'.:'::::-·'"---·-'.:'S,J;3C.~J[;,
INSHUCTION
I JACK BRITTON (llll 943 1014 hildln1 E
Bob Altiriql1t powors up off level qrouncJ 111 an lc;muc; II
Re:. fly with the motor on·. take· off with higher than trailing Some may think it goes without saying, but glider pilots are used to the nose down for protection from stalls. Believe me, going for max at take-off can eat you up. I to plow up the turf doing about 30 to 3['i mph when I should have out a half inch would have lifted me off. When in doubt, PUSH OUTI No to (really lucky). One dia~ional strut bent, another popped loose of rivets at the nose. Lower leading connecting tube with chrome rnoly bolting hardware bent up only a half inch. Behinderminder intact, and else OK (or so we thought). re-riveted any rivets Struts in doubt, but the main went unseen until my flying partner, Bob /\lbri~Jht, and I decided to bend the connection as:;ernbilv back down into place! It took a five foot crowbar to bend it back down that half inch. /\t first it just kept corning back up, so we pushed it past normal hoping to rearrange its rnemmy. It popped back into with a very audible POP! We then started looking for the cause of the noise, thinking a rivet or two had let loose when we noticed that the spar of both lower wings had transmitted the shock load of my sudden stop to points just outboard of the forward hang tube gussets. At these points on both lower leading spars the tubing had or waves, that were very hard to see and could frnve rione unnoticed if we hadn't been "b'J"l,w11v careful to look for /\nd there also, just outboard of the gussets, was one tiny crack in each spar. The ripples and the crack in each case were perpendicular to the length of the tubing, and very tiny, but mind-blowing! We took two 7" rods of one inch diameter 606] T6 and machined them to % inch wall 54
thidmess with the outside diameter turned down a few thou extra so would fil inside the one inch . 03:-i spar material. We cut away all tubing that was and replaced it using our machined rods to tie it We also bolted, as well as pop rivete.d,the new connectors in We had left a ridge of diameter about YH inch wide in the center of our conneclors so we could see that it was inserted at both ends. The energy added to the Icarus flying the motor makes it to self. tern destruct the system more be taken. recommendation is that new pilots learn to without motor attached from low hills until overcontrol is not a problem. Then bolt on motor and \JO for it with full throttle from level ,lus1 the nose a little If ii' s too high, the will not but will mush and start wagging its wingtips then just shu1 off motor, back up and try asiain. up moderately when near the but when clecH, l) put up 2) establish 3) back slowly until it starts por poising, then 4) pull forward a little at a time until the p011Joising smooths out. It is very easy. When airborne with feet up, the. leading me about four inches than the for besl climb, or until she stops porpoising. The bird won't climb well at all with feet down; the difference is amazing. New should learn to get feet up and have harness all settled from hill as low as 150 feet with ability to spot land at will before going on to motorized flight notwithstanding what other equipment they have experience with. The without motor can be lifted off level by running into fifteen mph wind and flown feet up for several before to land. One other Bob and I found that our bird was a bit noset1ea1vv (both before and after my short and we had to move
our point BACK 2ibout four inches behind the upper rear connector. Three fellow in Connecticut were having the same problem with another Icarus II and a Sunriser. Our motor kit is a Moody and we have it in the lowest adjustable position; the Conn. use other systems. ?') This shows up more so with taller mid heavier pilots and in pilots with boots. We found it also necessary to use a swingseat that puts our armpits four to so that a pilot inches above the can put his feet up and get his but1 way back without too much work Our bird is kitbuilt from Mauro for Icarus II. very carefully to UFM specs. We have had the rnachine up to 4300 feet, and 75 cent hour-long flights are a 4300' /\GL and 4485 ASL) We are Laminar streamlining, 16 sections; a header with a muffler we hope to get soon; and we're looking for a wider, steeper pitched prop. /\!so painting a few colors on the winrcitips for others to see us better. /\nd we to set up a throttle control and lean rich control using a u-,,, "''"" bike shift lever setup because the twist/pust1-pt111/11w1s1 throttle is too stiff, gets The stuck and is too awkward to present lean/rich control is too close to the prop for comforl and peace of mind. My conqratul,1t1c)ns to John Moody, though, as he has made advances in ultra-light, inexpensive flight. I have request Would anyone with \nformalion on the effects of motor vibration on Icarus structure come forward with it? Our vibration is nol qrnat, but it bounces around pithball so it can'1 be dependec1 upon, then unscrews the bottom of the so the ball falls out Also, we've had an engine strut bolt try to vibrate out so much that it bent the pin almost double. We're going to have our prop and hub rebahrnced on a prop machine, and hopefully this will take care of it, but it sure would be nice to know some authoritative data on the effects of vibration upon the aluminum and steel structure. (The October issue of G/id ing will include an article with
vibration. --Ed.) One other question: Why have I heard more about getting into spin/spi· ral dive attitudes than Icarus II' s? I' rn sure the Icarus II will too, but is a pilot less likely to get into that with an Icarus? Recovery follows release of bo1h rudders and a "full body slam" against the rear spar with correct? And what is average feet down pullout rate in terms of vertical descent and number of turns??'? (;..forces'?
SEPTEMBrn 1977
'
' •
rJes1nrnid lo meet Materials are certified for aircraft use. and defloctor lor turbulent cross country
high glidtir for IJocilB and smooth in response for bec1inners, affords a nlide and sink by BAL
ON DROP
One of the benefits to hang gliding clubs in coming USHGA Chcipters is hauing some space Hang Gliding for their news. promise has not carried out before due little staff time for more projects as well cis Jack pmcedent on how to handle the informcition. effort is long ouerdue, howeuer, und this column is an attempt to fulfill the obligat.ion to many Chapters. It is cm official US! {GA unlike my other independent writing in this other publications. Here's how we'll do it: USHGA Lhc1pters, put me on your newsletter mailing lbt sources Co-op, Wilton, NH. 03086). News extracted therefrom, and, if you'll send them after you use them, we'll try to include some tos. No newsletu?r? ,Just get someone to write a ter to me with news, including a couple of photos you can. All material will be subject to space and for interest to the national rec1Cie,rst1ip. Three of the 23 Chapters already happen have me on their mailing list, s,:1 we'll use them do a demonstration column this month.
Southland Southland 526 Inglewood, CA 90301
"Closed" by Mark Schwinge (6-77 issue) Due to difficulties with Malibu law en:tori2erner1t agencies, Tuna Canyon has now been co:mrrletelv closed. The Malibu club, "the Topanga Force," is working toward securing the site for ture use. . Tuna Canyon, flying site, is ious for its turbulent conditions both in !Light 2111d public relations. "Incidents" by the staff (7·77 issue) Hay Suiter reports that (a) fire on San '--ll"sl'Ulll10 (Mountain) caused some interesting boba. It seems that the borate bombers being us.ed by the Forest Service to help fight the fire had over the Soboba site on their way to the And, according to Hay, the Forest Service pilots, an effort to save fuel, werellyinqoverthei riclg,i with only about 50-ft clearance. Despite the traffic, sei1en1l hanfl gliider pilots t,v,l, nth,m "'""" one incident, an and DC-4 came much close for comfort, with th,! [X:::.4 making an sive maneuver and flying under the SST If this true, it marks the second recent occurrence of type.Ed1ward'sCanyc)n1wasalnr1os.tcl,~edbeca,use hang glider pilots refused to dear the arf'2t for fighting aircraft not long ago. We wonder behavior like this will be tolerated. bright news included reports on Scott's 72-mile flight with o Phoenix 8 in June, the May Region 3 Qualifier Meet sponsored SHGA in conjunction with th1dnilar1d 1r·fonqG/idl11g Assn., another USHGA Chapter. These have both been reported at length elsewhere in
HG. 56
Phil Pres. Mark Wantman, Editor P.O. Box 395 Newton Highlands, MA 02161
& Sink" by the staff (7 77) We could fill page after page with accounts of milestones surpassed by our members and pilots in New England that first 90° tum for Class-! pilot, a flight above treetops ?Ind 180° two for Class-I!, 20-min. t?1ste of soarins1 for an enlirihtening game of tag a hawk for a Gre;1t flights like these all th,i time, but we hear very little of them. can't wait to tell their stories to friends by of mouth, but when it comes to transforrning exuberance into the written word, hang glider are notoriously bashful (or it illiterate?). like to hear more about your good flights, nni· im:t ,,,." .r bad ones! Bad news travels very fast in direction of the newsletter. (Sound familiar,
(77'7)
To the Editor. hang have been the ridge on North AFS for their flying ar-tiuitic,q/C,·1= Cod) . l !eel l should warn your that flying than l,O(Xl ft. to the possibility internal injury (from . your readers should als,:, know that flying an Air Force installation without permission the Commander illegal Franklin Hall, Lt Col., Commander, 762D Hadar :::,q\rndron (ADCOM), North Truro A.F. Station. Dear all, Living in Richmond (Va.) utterly ,a1..•uJ<1u~. I am three hours from Nags Hec1d, less two hours from the Blue Hid[JC Parkway and Drive wh,ire new flying sites opening clo5ing!!) all the time. Fortunately, hang [Jlidis still new bere and since no one has scared
miles. Near the turnaround he rnc11ntair1ed some time then "specked out," 3,000 ft abcM! the ridrie and drifting chase van we spotted him about further north with what we compute to at cloud base. l him and waited police depariment for call phone calls startkid: Strange bird, UFO, glider, etc., and we found him. group of interested cattle explaining about being cousin to redtaiL Larry qr1ic1c)us.tv thanked the cattle for moving, space, and we carried him home. "straight line" fli~iht I] miles . 1 flight time and only mins. in cloud street! EDITORS: rnn from the something more needed for the ship in the way of identifying the Not necessarily road directions, but just a coupt<c, o/ little details, like the state and some and the real name of a mountain enced by nickname in your pages. please pencil in such comments be/om mr1ilir,r11,n" copy. Also indicate if anything in your ne1:;;s/ett,2r would be preferred not to be seen spread ly by your members. ~
,John Borden, ,Jr. (Another 1/etv Eng,lander who has de,prn>te,:t J<)r s,outh,im is NEHGA's Immediate post president, Pete He left a b/us/,?ry spring up north to move Chattanooga, only to encounter o very long of hot, muggy, and relatively dead weather.)
Fleet Footed Heavener Runestone Assn., Inc. Ted
Pres.
Rei:von 6 Record" by Ronald Williarns issue) Easter Larry Edwards, flyinH new Ul Spyder, set what we believe to be new un·He~pon 6 record. Taking off at Mt Magazine .. Larry flew west. in ridge lift for about three
SEPTEMflEFI 1977
lY NYLON CAPS SOI ID rnoNT PANEi s AND I Ul I COLOI< PAI CHIS Of YOl.lf< IAVOlllH HAN(; Cl IDLI< ADJlJSrAlll I l\[Afl srnAP IOR PfRFECT f If COLOllS REil. llLUI. Ytl I ow Sl A1 Sill MANUH\CTUfll . ·~~~;,;_;;:~~_.;;~.;_:;.;;._.,;;;_~..:.;.
MAK[S CARRYING A worn A flR[Elf CARf<Y Gllll[fl WI I H HANDS f RH 10 srnwrn ON Cl lDU1 llUl1ING ll lGHf NYLON WUllllNC WITH covrnrn 10AM PAD AU OY llUCKI ADJUST Alli f LLNG 1H $ Hi plus /5~ sh1pp1ng
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bc,st, MOOSE ZIPPER Like new. Rainbow colors. flexors. lnterrnediate on 190 sq. ft. with baq offer. Bernie, (.'ll2) PHOENIX 6B. $650 with helmet, ban, and PACIFIC GULL HA.19. $350 with ness. Both in excellent condition. (714)
$600. Call :l67 l 819 or write 12437 % Windhaven 8, ,JR Less four soaring windows. ICARUS II, POWERED. Beautifully covered and finished. Was FAA. certified. Perfect condition. Flies beautifully. Colver variorneter included. $950. (20:3) 643.4493. For heavy pilots or tandem. $780. (21:5)
inspect
ROGALLO STANDARD 18' DELTA WING C,reen/white. Seat. Never flown, mint condition. Must sell or trade. $400 offer. Shipped free. (419) 2:r1.21s6.
ICARUS V. Brand new. Test flown. W/case. $600 or best offer. Denver, (:103) 697 9373.
ICARUS V. Must sacrifice. Need cash. Mint condition. H.EDGLING A model. Excellent condition. Will <111•uw11m1e. Best offer talrns one or both. (801) or (213) 933,9897. ICARUS V. Newly built Te.st flown. Nice work. Best offer. (303) 697 9'.H3. MITCHELL WING. Good condition. Thoroughly test flown. Best offer. Tim Chow, (415) SSJ .. ()244
SEAGULL VII, 19'. With cover. Lack of time and forces sale. Like new. $800. Vario and harness also able. (714) ')63.0390.
CUMULUS GB. (~ood condition. LI. blue. blue and yel· low. $700. Contact David Childs, (714) 889.1780. DRAGONFLY MK Exoillent condition. W/bau. Col ored sail. $125. (408) 241.5417.
Icarus lIB, $600. Price in· nans..,,.,,·,a11nn box, harness, spare
condition. Photos
DRAGONFI Y MK·2.
"nac,irn,c; Wa.
for STRATO, 20' Good condition. $675. (805) 929 3574, eveninus wanted, Mini Strnto or Mini Cirms.
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SEPTEMBER 1977
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utilizing the most modem and safest equipment av;,ilable. (714) !,60-0888. HANG GLIDERS WEST.DILLON BEACH FLYING SCHOOL For tl1e most
ARKANSAS WESTARK! Call or write the professiollills ers, all major brands (new and accessories. Catalogs available. vited. See Edwards, 3109 Grand, Fort 72904, (5()1) /OcC·J'lfC>U.
shop specializes in inventory of parts Chandelle replacement am1m1ce1c,andhial1-nertcirm lain up to the most modern techniques and 11s well as twoway radios between ti1e instruclor and student. Located just west of Denver at the foot of Green Mountain. Call or wri1e for free list or further information: (30:i) 278,%66. St., Golden, CO 80401. USHGA Certified Jnstruc · Distributors for Bennett invited. Write for list. Co.
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•
• flODY INCLINldlON AO,/IJSYAllLL INfLIGHl
CONSTRUC1'f!) OF IIDZ
To order your harness or for more information write or call SUNBIRD GLIDERS 12501 GLADSTONE AVE., #A4 SYLMAR, CALIFORNIA 91342 361-8651 11 Please pilot height and weight when orcjering by mail. 11 A minimum $'20.00 deposit must accompany all mail orders. @ ONLY $69.50 f.o.b. Sylmar. CG!lfomlans add 6% sales tax.
To order your hamess or for
11
DEALERS INOUIRIES INVITED
60
COIWUflA@NYl.ON
information write or call:
SUNBIRD GLIDERS 12501 GLADSTONE SYLMAR, CALIFORNIA 361-8651 Please specify pilot height and weight when ordering by mail. A minimum $20.00 must accompany all mail orders 11 ONLY $79.50 f.o.b. Californians add 6% sales tax. DEALERS INQUIRIES INVITED
@ @
SEf'TEMBEP 1977
lbs. fL of systcrn riorosity, doublc·coatcd nylon for rnduced sink einforcemcnt tape each apHx, and V·lal.is on skirt tor added conical shape:, drive slots and canopy lift and rnduced oscillations Positive systmn to until line stretch is reached. ft. bridal cord to al low canopy rwt away from nlider bcforn line stretch occurs. low container for addHcl canopy tapered to allow control
HANG GLIDING
61
NORTH CAROLINA MINNESOTA NORTHERN SUN HANG GLIDERS, INC. Distributors Sun Sail, and UFM
MONARCH FLYING MACHINES we're just local ai1 junkies who can with USHGA Instructors and Observers, all major of and mountain flying trips. 268.(,2t,4 or write Monarch, 1030 I Shawnee Mission, Ks. 66214
for Products, mountains: Attitash, CranUSf IGA certified Instruction and lean,,,to,,flv oa,cki)O(!S. Write for free information kit Box 898, North Conway, New
MICHIGAN DELTA KITES OF INDIAN LAKE 7844 Shaver Rd Portage, Ml 49081. Tow flight school, complete stock of repairs or custom work Call (616) :127,3075, 8AM to 5PM or (616) 649,2066, evenings.
SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN HANG GLIDERS Dist for Wills Wing, dealer for Electra Flyer and Delta Wing. S@
have most major brnnds (new and used kites) and will trade almost to get you into the air. Oklahoma (405)
NEW YORK
and advanced Douka (914) 10950. MID-WEST SCHOOL OF HANG GLIDING All levels of instmction, located% mile from Warren Dunes, one of the best training sights in the U.S.! Dealers include: Fn,,m.,nr,., Wills Wing, Albatross, Moyes, Come fly before your buy, Call Now taking orders for the new Cumulus 10, and
COME FLY ,JOCKEY'S RIDGE! If you live east of the Mi,;sissippi and want to learn to fly glider safely Kith, ch1;uk Kites, Wilbur and Orvill,e c,ame h,en, to into the soft Atlantic breezes from which will always be it the tallest sand ha11e safel,v t2,uolht o,ver 7,500
OREGON
IiANG GLIDING SCHOOL OF NEW YORK I .earn to fly the safe and Complete $50 course includes,
Flight instrucl:ion, ulicler rental ,warl.rliHAnol instruction t:~11 ,..,,, clatJ begin each week in New York free literature or information, call 121211b84-1,b'i1 ings at (914) 967 7826
ENDLESS MOUNTAINS HANG GLIDERS. EleclrnFlyer, Sky Sports. Sales, service and instruction with ad (co11t1nued on
611)
*** FLIGHT GUIDES***
*NEW* HANG GLIDING AND FLYING SKILLS A COMPLETE TFlAINING MANUAL DETAILS ON: BEGINNING FLIGHT •
INTERMEDIATE SKILLS
ADVANCED MANEUVERS SIMPLE AEr{OOYNAMICS GLIDER Dll'SIGN
AND AOVANCEr:> L.IOER REPAIR
SELECTING EQUIPMENT THERMAL.LING HANG GLID· ING HIST'DRY CROSS·COUNTRV TANDEM FL.YING TOWING AND MUCH M()RE
HANG GLIDING AND Fl.YING CONDITIONS The "f10AD MAP TO THE SKY" DETAILS
()N:
ROTORS
GENERAL WINI)
GRADIENT WAVES
WEATHER
SHADOW
SOARING
WINl)S ALOFT
TURBULENCE
SEABREEZES
WIND
CONDITIONS
THERMALS
l.OCAI. WINDS
CLOUD TYPES
SITE READING AND MUCH MORE
$ [j.95 + 2fi4 Postage for each book $10.95 + 50¢ Postage for both to:
DENNIS PAGEN 1184 Oneida St., State College, PA 16801 PLEASE PRINT NAME AND ADDRESS DEAL.ER INQUIRIES INVITED
62
lrnvo thorn, contact us
we'll
SEPTEMBrn 1977
II
•
I
AND CDCCYX BONE
LLT THF SEAT TAKE 1HE BRUISLS EASY RUNNING.DOLS NOl HIDE UP OR DOWN
UP
Brochure.
PLUS SHIPPING I NV ITED,SCHOOL DISCOUNTS AV /\IL.ABLE DESIGNED AND PRODUCED BY .Jt:RRY LANHAM
TEXAS CALIFORNIA GLIDERS. Distributors for
ELECTRA.FLYER DISTRIBUTORS. South Mid,Western distributors for: Electra Corp., lJFM Products, Sky Sports, Aircraft or write: LONE South Srnithbarry Rd., Arlington, Metro. (817) 469.915') LONE STAR HANC, GLIDERS Electra f·lyer, Sky and UFM Sales, repair, instrucArlinulon, Tx. 76013.
WASHINGTON
HANG/NG IN THERE. $6/yr. 6301 Knox Ave. South, Richfield MN 55423.
64
SEPTEMBm 1977
Enclosed is
Ct,attanooga, TN 37401
HANG GLIDING
check or money ordor for
Crea e P oogn
v
bill anderson
YOURS for the Hang ing : This award winn ing photograph , mounted and ready for your persona l frame .
Lim ited Ed it ion : Only 500 of these unique photographs will be offered . Numbered and Signed : Each print will be nu mbered in sequence and signed by photographe r Bill Anderson (remember , signed and numbered photographs cont inue to increase in va lue). Make::: n except iona l g ift for the enthus iast. YES! QTY
Please send me the photoghraph {s) as I have indicatf'!d below . SIZE PRICE $24 :95 each 8" X 10"
SEND ORDERS TO:
bill anderson photography 2019 Meadow Drive Longmont, CO 80501
$34 .95 each
11 " x14 "
$44 .95 each 16" X 20 " Plu s $1.85 each for shipping and insurance. TOTAL '- - - - - - -
(Colora do resi dents add 5% sales tax)
CIT Y ·
STATE _ _ Z IP
SEAG U LL AI RCRAFT IS PROUD TO INTRODUCE T HE SEAHAWK . DESIGNED AND BUil T WITH T HE SA ME TRADITIO
OF EXCELLENCE AS ALL THE SEAGU LL
PRODUCTS BEFORE IT. T HE SEAHAWK OFFERS FLIGHT PERFORMANCE SUITABLE FOR FIRST TRAINING FLIGHTS AND ON THROUGH CO PETIT ION .
3021 A irport A venue , San a on ica . Ca lifornia 90405 (213 ) 394-1151
66
SEPTEMBER 1977
sider that an enthusiastic new to USHGA in one year dues
or, member to on top of more Hite/school insurance. (At the on the latter verbal or anyway.) is reasonable and the Hamo
a.:c;vuo. It doesn't cost any more to This one should be hauled back to imit w::is ridiculous of the Board to increase dues mn,nhncr where decided to rebate and ofUSHGA
this June: "Pilots receive cow Find launch over Stead Field and upon the 50 foot white Reminds me of the old te1.ith and sorta I don't propose another variation on water halloonH that you at your next fun meet: "Pilots . . . water moHt balloons intact
HANG GLIDING
67
Applied leading Edge Pocket Now Available $[i0.00 Extra
Once again, available in
I /06 by IOCA" Uf1APHICG
weeks.