Anyone planning to fly at Santa Ynez in middle California this weekend or has before this time of year before? I am going to be vacationing in the area and was wondering if it's worth pulling the trailer along.

Santa Claus, like all pilots, gets regular visits from the Federal Aviation Administration, and the FAA examiner arrived last week for the pre-Christmas flight check. In preparation, Santa had the elves wash the sled and bathe all the reindeer. Santa got his logbook out and made sure all his...

Nice segment featuring Bruno Vassel about soaring and weather on The Weather Channel. Finally! They provide a segment of "Worthwhile entertainment!" For the first time in a long time, I have been happy to see them showing something other than real live, current weather information! Thanks you...

It appears that there has actually been progress on the Saqqara microlift glider: http://www.diloren.com/index01.htm as is evidenced by this pic: http://www.vole.ch/matmambo/diloren.jpg of a completed(?) example. Does anyone have anymore info on this? I've scoured the Dilorean site many times,...

I never buy the 'Extended Warranty' on gadgets, but I wonder what people thing about insurance to cover the cost of SAR and/or Medical Evacuation. For example http://www.inreachdelorme.com/product-info/geos-search-and-rescue.php They do exclude coverage for accidents related to 'hang-gliding'...

It would be reasonable to say the US soaring community was quite impressed with Sarah's WGC podium performance. Well earned and just outstanding! As if her podium finish wasn't enough, her podium appearance certainly was the "plat de résistance". No sir re Bob...no ragged, dirty airport clothes...

http://www.zasucks.com/

Decided to cross post this for discussion... Walt Rogers WX Here's the Sat imagery, Radar for the last day at Nephi. The plus plots are the TP database. The label for the plot points is mangled due to a bug in the program. Here are two radar loops from MTX (Salt Lake City radar): One is...

I am looking for a source (free or subscription) of high resolution ground imagery (10m or better) of the eastern US. I need daily/hourly images. Visual and IR would be ideal. My intent is to observe changes from day to day. Any recommendations? Thanks, OC

I am looking for satellite images of convective clouds on an almost real time basis. I am interested in West Texas. The best I have found so far are from NOAA. I have been looking at the GOES EAST EASTERN US VISUAL. I have not been able to zoom in. Any help would be appreciated. Bill Snead 6W

does anyone know of a good low priced prepaid satellite phone? seems like a good thing to have for a mission i have in mind, and the cheapest i'm finding are ^$400. i have something like the "tracfone" of satellite phones in mind. thanks, -ND

Open class scoring in, top guy over 100 MPH for the task Results at http://soaringspot.com/wgc20112/results/ Ron

No fly, weather. 434, Ron Schwartz, flying a ASW 20, wins 15 Meter. Wait for offical scores to see second and third. K1, Dale Kramer, wins Standard. KS, Karl Streidieck, wins 18 Meter, with a Duo Discus. Congrats to all, and yes, I know its a 20 meter ship, but whats a couple of meters when...

Hi Guys - I arrived in Hobbs Friday afternoon after driving 2,222 miles. Since I've only flown the Antares once since the Seniors in March (564km from Sterling MA up to Belvidere VT and return) I wanted to get in a decent flight and knock some rust off. Perhaps you will find this...

Yes, four of us flew yesterday. Several of our flights are posted on the OLC. 7V, 8H, SZ and myself. Ran north to crossroads, then "they ran to Andrews, Jal, something like #77 and home." I went after crossroads to Brownfield and that was a sink hole. But out in the blue hit an 8 kt climb to almost...

Looks like a gentle ridge day for the northern part of the ridge system. Limited to PA/NJ/NY from the looks of the GFS model runs. Winds are actually better on Friday, but as of now looks like it stays wet for most of the day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srNTtuTqUBE Surfing Aircraft Vortices for Energy Interesting piece from Boeing Aircraft Next summer when KS goes past me in his Duo Discus I think I am going to try this technique to keep up.

Save the Date! Happy New Year! I am happy to announce Sandhill Soaring Club and Adrian Soaring Club have teamed up with the SSA to host the 2018 Juniors Contest & Development Camp to be held at Lenawee County Airport (KADG), the home of Adrian Soaring Club, located in Adrian, Michigan, from July 2...

The New Zealand press is reporting an unusual crash. They say the glider suffered catastrophic wing failure (most unusual in itself!), fell out of control 1500 ft onto the steep side of a mountain, and the two occupants escaped the crash without serious...

I have a question regarding the use of the See You software. I have several tasks associated with a single contest on my see you software. Is there a way to save all of these tasks (including the turn point zone data) to a permanet file for future reference? Also, I would like to save the...