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Soaring

I'm thinking of having the airspeed up and then going inverted upside down and then back to normal as one is flying horizontally.

That sounds like a "roll".

And that qualifies as an "aerobatic" maneuver.

Most aircraft operating handbooks have a prohibition against performing aerobatics.

As does mine.

Aerobatic planes would generally have a stronger structure, allowing a higher G-load.

Mine:
  • Positive G load: +5.3
  • Negative G load: -2.65

"The Swift S-1 aerobatic glider is designed to handle extreme maneuvers. Its G load specifications are:

Here's somebody doing a roll, with a loop after:


It's not so much that they "can't", but they have not been designed, tested, and certified for those activites.

I wonder if Bob Hoover's Aero Commander was "rated" for aerobatics.


Swift S-1 Aerobatic glider. Not optimized to glide, but to perform maneuvers.

 
That sounds like a "roll".

And that qualifies as an "aerobatic" maneuver.

Most aircraft operating handbooks have a prohibition against performing aerobatics.

As does mine.

Aerobatic planes would generally have a stronger structure, allowing a higher G-load.

Mine:
  • Positive G load: +5.3
  • Negative G load: -2.65

"The Swift S-1 aerobatic glider is designed to handle extreme maneuvers. Its G load specifications are:

Here's somebody doing a roll, with a loop after:


It's not so much that they "can't", but they have not been designed, tested, and certified for those activites.

I wonder if Bob Hoover's Aero Commander was "rated" for aerobatics.


Swift S-1 Aerobatic glider. Not optimized to glide, but to perform maneuvers.

That is amazing. So did the RedBull pilot get a extra high tow to altitude and then descended doing aerobatics. I don't see the pilot seeking lift.
 
I'd guess a tow to 2000 or 2500 feet above ground..

He wouldn't go too high because the crowd couldn't see him.

AI says they tow to 1200 meters when on competition events..
 
I'd guess a tow to 2000 or 2500 feet above ground..

He wouldn't go too high because the crowd couldn't see him.

AI says they tow to 1200 meters when on competition events..
IC. It was great aerobatics. :D
 
Saturday 8/17/2024

Finally a day without rain.

Kept it up for five hours, to make up for recent short flights.

The Jump Plane (Twin Otther) came near on his way to a 5500 foot drop over the airport, bottom right.

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I like flying late in the day. The clouds base slowly increases through the afternoon, and there are usually broad areas of lift.

High point was 5,615 feet, a couple of minutes before this. We "close" at 5pm, so it's time to start heading down and back to the airport. Landed 40 minutes later.

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Now, I'm headed out to do it again.

Have a nice day!
 
Sunday 8/25/24

Nice day, clouds around 4500 feet, some small rain showers in the area, but no storms.

Flying around with a "low performance" Schweizer 1-26.

Performance
Maximum speed: 114 mph (182 km/h, 99 kn)
Maximum glide ratio: 23 at 53 mph (84 km/h)
Rate of sink: 174 ft/min (0.88 m/s)

Mine is a Schweizer 1-35C.

Performance
Maximum speed: 139 mph (222 km/h, 121 kn)
Maximum glide ratio: 34 at 55 mph (88 km/h
Rate of sink: 120 ft/min (0.61 m/s)

The Pilot's operating handbook for my planed (Schweizer 1-35C) says I can select the first stage of "landing flaps" and it reduces my performance to that of the 1-26. So I had a chance to try it, and it seemed about right. Slow and going down, it was, side by side, a little over 40mph indictated speed.

The pilot in the 1-26 is one of our tow-plane pilots. I think he has an old Luscomb parked in Clearwater. This might be it.

Here, catching up, I'm about to overtake him.

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Ifind it fun to fly with another glider for a while, see who finds the best lift, and compare glide speed and altitude difference. This was two hours and forty minutes into my flight, he launched right behind me. Didn't see him until now.

There were two other private gliders in the air during the afternoon, and at least one Club glider doing repeated training flights, that I never spotted, They are hard to see, so I practice "seeing" them.

Here's 2~3 minutes before the picture above., and what it looks like when you can first spot somebody else.

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Total flight time for the weekend, two flights, 7 hours and 9 minutes.
 
Chasing my Instructor and a Student around the sky in a tight thernal Sunday.

Where are they, you say?


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Reflected in the Flight Logger...
 
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Weather has not been good recently, but if it is flyable, and anyone else (student or experienced) goes up, I'll give it a try.

Wednesday, 2 hours and ten minutes, just couldn't find any lift in my path back to the airport.

Follow the birds, they know best. 700 feet per minute up near this guy.

I find the high point of my flight was a minute later.

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Trying to catch "up" to another glider is fun. This one is an ASW-19, a new old club plane, with slightly higher rated performance than mine..

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I finally did catch "up"...

My turn to be on top.

No skydivers this day, so we were free to use the airspace usually off limits over the airport.

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Landing...

 
Wednesday started nicely, got right on up near 5000 feet after tow to 2000, and decided to try to fly a declared course of 50 miles, a loop remaining within 10 miles of the airport.

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Plan, go west, north, east, south, and back to the airport area. Try to go past the center of the circles for more "points". Hitting the circle is sufficient for it to score.

Sometimes you have to wander off course to find some air to keep you up.

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Unfortunately, I didn't make it to the southern point, as that would have put a building rain area between there and the finish.

Headed south, the next target was that light area on the left, a trailer park in the middle of nowhere with a blue swimming pool in its center, and the next target (finish) just offscreen to the right.

There's rain headed toward my path. The windspeed is low, but sometimes the storm will grow and expand quickly (this one did), so I chickened out. Gotta have an eye on the weather when you're depending on it to stay up and stay safe.

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Got to play up high near the rain as it approached the airport (bottom left) 30 minutes later, though.

Get long glides without circling in broad areas of sometimes strong lift under those big clouds. You get to go fast (downhill) as the air tries to pull you on up but you must not allow that. You can either put on some drag to be less efficient and maintain altitude or put on some speed. Speed is usually more fun.

No lighning else I would have already landed.

Can't fly in rain Can't see, and water on the airframe reduces its efficiency quite a bit, maybe 25% or more. You can hear a diiference in the wind noise between wet and dry, and it takes a few minutes to dry out again.

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Landed uneventfully a little while later, ads the storm sucked the life out of the surrounding air, shaded the ground for miles, and I couldn't find any more lift to stay up as the whole thing rapidly dissipated.

About the same view as above, and not long after. Lower than desired, but headed toward a safe landing.

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Two hours and twenty one minutes, not a bad flight time for a sketchy day.

This summer has been unpredictable. This was the first "distance" flight I've attempted for while, maybe since May.
 
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Our Club has a new (old - 6/19/1963) tow plane, a Call Air A9.
'
Some kind of deal worked out with another club in Virginia. It had no engine.

A six hour flight with two fuel stops got it here.

Now we have three tow planes, though the Cessna is sold.


Waiting to take off from near Newcastle Virginia Sunday morning at Blue Ridge Soaring Society:

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A brave pilot ready for a beer.

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Three (!) tow planes in the hangar.

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I had my shortest flight ever on Sunday.

The tow rope became unlatched from the tow plane at an estimated/calculated 186 feet altitude above the ground.

That's considered the lower limit for making a turn back to the runway you took off from, general rule.

You practice "rope break" in training a few times, usually quite a bit higher, to "safely" get used to the situation.


A moment after the rope popped off the latch on the tow plane.


1727187431473.png


That's 35 seconds into the video:


At 1:05 the tow pilot asks on the radio "Did you let go?"

I didn't know what happened. I first thought my end failed, but it didn't.

Always:

Aviate...
Navigate...
Communicate...

In that order. Never got around to "communicate". Didn't have a free hand for the handheld radio.


 
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I had my shortest flight ever on Sunday.

The tow rope became unlatched from the tow plane at an estimated/calculated 186 feet altitude above the ground.

That's considered the lower limit for making a turn back to the runway you took off from, general rule.

You practice "rope break" in training a few times, usually quite a bit higher, to "safely" get used to the situation.


A moment after the rope popped off the latch on the tow plane.


View attachment 394559

That's 35 seconds into the video:


At 1:05 the tow pilot asks on the radio "Did you let go?"

I didn't know what happened. I first thought my end failed, but it didn't.

Always:

Aviate...
Navigate...
Communicate...

In that order. Never got around to "communicate". Didn't have a free hand for the handheld radio.


Well done! Maintaining speed and 'nose down' is what saves lifes (and ignoring this fact has caused too many accidents in the past).

(question: where did the rope go, have I missed the release?)
 
Glad you made it look so easy. Way to go staying cool. Any news on the cause?
 
question: where did the rope go, have I missed the release?

At 35 seonds in the video, there's a little "bang" noise and (interestingly) the flight logger screen goes "black" for a moment, and the tow plane climbs away without me.

The rope is all but invisible in the video. Before it released, with an arrow pointing to it. Look closely.

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Any news on the cause?



The attachment to the tow plane is very simple. This device is bolted on to the rear of the tow plane. The one on the Pawnee is inverted from the drawing.

This is the "American" style setup.

Tow rope goes to the glider. Unlatch it and the rope pulls off. It's a little more complicated than the drawing, rollers to catch the right end of the hook, which has some dimples to catch the sprung rollers. The hook rotates to release the rope.

The rope normally remains attached to the tow plane all day.





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It's a little more complicated than that, little rollers to catch the right end of the hook, which has some dimples to catch the sprung rollers, the rubber compresses a bit and holds it closed



Here's how the release under the nose of the glider works. a cable on the Instrument Panel pulls the lever to release the catch. Spring keeps it closed. Rope tension pulls the rope off. The spring isn't very strong. You can release the rop on the ground with your finger on the release arm. that permits the rope to detach on its own if it trails bhind the glider, which it did, after it released from the tow plane.

No rollers or rubber on this end.


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Cause?

Unknown. Will inspect the device before my next flight.



Europeans use a different style for both the tow plane and glider. Little ring latches into the release device, rope tied to the big ring. Basically, a "pin" goes through the small ring.
.

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@RayDunzl : Off-topic -- Aren't you in/near Tampa Bay? Stay safe, stay dry, with the hurricane coming in!
 
Aren't you in/near Tampa Bay?

Yes.

The last "Big One" to hit Tampa was 1921.

I'm inland a bit and 83 feet elevation, not in an evacuation zone.

The airport is inland and 92 feet.

Forecast wind not so bad, Thursday afternoon:
Airport - 32 gusting 56
Home - 34 gusting 59


Here's a long long video from Ft Myers Beach. Skip ahead at your leisure.

"The video begins just before 10am and ends at 7:40pm on September 28, 2022. The camera probe is placed 15 feet up on a concrete pole at Estero Blvd and Ave C, facing northwest."

 
Last Sunday, well after Hrricane Helene had passed by this area, and was about finished inundating the little mountain towns up north, the air was still unsettled here.

To the south, clear for miles, to the north, a wide dark storm, but over Zephyhills, probably a "convergence", where the (cooler) air mass to the north burrowed under the (warmer) air mass to the south, making it rise, and interestingly creating rising cloud wisps below the main cloud base.

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Crusing along a line in good lift.


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Green, circling left, Red, circling right, Blue, more or less straight line or gentle turns.

17:00 being "closing time" at the club, else might have stayed up longer.

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Somebody new at the club showed up in one of these with the same color scheme last week.

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I examined it, of course.

It looked so small I first thought it was a "kit car".

But the badges and the brakes and interior soon convinced me it was probably the real deal.

Not my "thing".

$340,000

Specs at the bottom of this page... Fuel Economy 15mpg

 
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