I know Sebastian Kawa and a few others never touch alcohol. Some racing pilots stay away around competitions. Others have a beer waiting on ice when they land. Is it just a high performance athlete focusing thing - or is there more to it. I did a search and couldn't fined any discussions. WH

I am wondering how often a truck for towing a glider trailer might be an advantage? I have yet to buy my first glider, but of course and thinking that the next vehicle I purchase should be a good one to tow with (Incidentally, thinking of the GMC/Chevy Canyon/Colorado, with the 2.8L inline 4...

I finally got around to watching this 1967 movie which I bought on eBay more than a month ago. It was surprisingly well done. Not that Walt ever put out a bad product, his production values were always top notch. However, when the popular media shows soaring, I often see realism and accuracy go...

Hi- I've searched the archives of this oft-discussed topic, but am not finding specific answers I'm seeking. If you have good experience or knowledge about the specific issues below, I would much appreciate your insights. 1) Latency with accuracy. What is the quickest vario with accuracy? Are...

Have there been stall spins during an aero tow? Today, I had a very scary aero retrieve. From being towed to fast to-to slow. Anyways the scaries part was when, the tow plane started to climb and to slow. The indicated speed on the glider was 50 knots and decreasing. The glider kept slowing down...

Has anyone any experience yet with the new Lxnav Hawk Wind program? Sounds superficially to me like it might be an alternative to the Butterfly wind solution which is no longer readily available. And this program seems to avoid some of the Butterfly installation challenges?

In the Wings and Wheels classified ads there is listed a Taurus selflaunch glider for sale. Originally it was N797SD, sn 107T503LSA. Currently carrying a different N number and serial number, but it is the same glider. This Taurus was involved in a hangar fire about 4 years ago in Memphis, Tn. ...

The FAA has made it possible for glider plots with very limited time to acquire a CFIG rating with only 15 hours of total glider time. This is truly an accident waiting to happen, what could a glider pilot actually know with such limited time? What do you think?

https://soaringnv.com/ You can pay for tows on a per-tow basis, which will be billed on a per-minute basis, or you can purchase a VIP Season Tow Pass. Here are the details for both options: Paying on a Per-Tow Basis • Glider pilots are responsible for having their glider at the staging area, and...

Hi! We are trying to get new two seater from various funds for our club. Most of the funds force to buy new glider. Can you please help us a little bit with market research and suggest low budget two seater? Thank you all!

Warning/Caution: A couple of days ago an F-16 broadsided a Cessna 150 at a couple of thousand feet over mid to lower South Carolina not far from where we fly gliders out of Perry or Manning. The still reasonably intact F-16 was damaged requiring the pilot to punch out which he did safely. The...

Although I enjoyed the discussion in my previous thread on drag and handicaps, I was trying to create a discussion about the benefit of having a reliable propulsion system versus a pure glider. For this discussion, please assume that someone created an FES system that had no drag and no additional...

A question often asked is "Why has the glider activity declined?" In 1975 we would make about 150 flights on a Sat & Sun. Nothing like that now but we had our best year 2006 in a long time. The decline (I believe) is the competition for disposable time Vegas is many times larger, Indian Casinos...

I know the comparison of ASH 26 VS DG 800's has been done, but now that DG has come out with a DG 808C I was wondering what self launching guys think? The new 808C allows wing loading of up to 10.2 Lbs compared to 9.2 for the ASH 26? The new DG also has NOAH exit assist and stall warning plus...

I don't think there is any future in joining or affilliating with either the AOPA or the EAA. Now these are fine organizations to which I have belonged but the culture is very different from the soaring community and I am sure there would be issues that would not favor us. Associate yes, but...

Eric Greenwell maintains, and I am sure he is right, that increased performance adds cost and smaller size reduces cost, and that many potential owners would be 'happy' with LS-4 performance in a smaller and more modern design. What about a modern 1-26 ? Could it be made affordable and attractive...

With the increase of glider accidents these days, just how safe is this sport? There is always a element of risk associated with flying but how does soaring compare with other forms of aviation or motorsports?

Two gliderscoming in to the finish directly over the runway. One at about 100 ft and the other at 150 ft. The one at 150 ft is going about 30 knots faster than the lower and flies over it just as the lower glider is pulling up. Lower glider misses the one above by approx. 5-10 ft. This happened...

Time for the annual PW5 discussion. After reading all the negative posts here for years about how bad the PW5 is and how it is leading to the downfall of Soaring around the world, I have come to a realization. It is FEAR. Yes, all these hotshots who put down this ship simply could not compete...

OK, I'm curious. How many of you have had to recover from a fully developed (greater than one turn), unintentional spin that occurred during normal non-aerobatic flight? I've got close to 1000 hours in roughly 25 different types of single seat and higher performance two seat gliders, with...