In this age of steadily declining service from our vendors, it is refreshing to find a vendor that places customer service at the top of their priority list. My Cobra trailer is now 25 years old, and as can be expected, it has required replacement of some items, mostly involving the various...

As some of you know, I'm working on my CFIG (should get it after contest season is over). But I have some strong disagreements with the way my club handles instructing and so I'll be going my own way once I have the cert. One area I've been thinking about a lot is our 3000- foot "standard" tow....

Hello; I am looking for a airspeed indicator - in km/h and altitude indicator in meters .. ;-) -- both 57mm if possible .. please let me now if you have these lying around and you are willing to offset them to the tired fellow pilot - who still "feels" metric better after all these 30 years or so...

Hi folks, I have to remove the control surfaces from my K 21 for an upcoming inspection. Does anyone know what size rivets I will need to reinstall them? I can’t find the reference in my maintenance manual and the flight manual is 60 miles away at the gliderport. Thanks in advance, Chuck

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeOKjjaMCP0

I have a number of ratings. I approached training for each them the same way. I got my glider ratings in an extremely informal club environment and my airplane ratings at small Part 61 flight schools. My goals we 1. Get the rating in the minimum time at the minimum cost. 2. Achieve the...

Does anyone know of a site that has current satellite photos that have a finer resolution than regional scale? Something on the order of US "state-sized". I know that varies but you get the idea. The best I can find now is...

Our club noticed a significant drop in the number of tows in 2011. It was a bit over 25% less than the average of the previous three years with no corresponding decrease in the number of members. The reduction was especially apparent in the 1K tows. I am curious if other clubs (100+ members)...

Sandia announced a new transponder that is "ideal for LSA - Glider - UAV Operations"; unfortunately, the only good thing about this transponder is the price. It's an odd shape for glider panels at 2" high by 3.5" wide, but the worst part is the 500 ma current draw at 12.5 volts, twice what the...

Over the Memorial Day weekend the Seattle Glider Council hosted the Dust-Up in Ephrata. This years Dust-Up was run again by Noel Wade and Kevin Finke. The objective this year was a badge and XC encampment. Several clubs in R8 attended as well as the normal folks that fly out of Ephrata. I had not...

I'm just about to shoot paint (PPG Concept) on the Janus C wings after months of stripping, profiling, priming, and sanding. I would prefer NOT to apply any tape, including the mylar seals, for a month or two after painting. I assume it will cost some performance, and I'm okay with that. Is there...

I can't seem to find an acceptable position for my portable PF that doesn't block too much of my view or interfere with the stick and still lets the antennae remain in a suitable position, so I am putting the unit up for sale.. It's only been used twice. Comes with both rubber ducky antennae, as...

Hello USA. In late June, I'll be driving my restored Schleicher ASK-13 from Marfa, Texas, to the International Vintage Sailplane Meet (IVSM) on Harris Hill, near Elmira, NY. Ready to replace the tires on my enclosed Swan trailer (a Cobra copy), my local tire suppliers cannot find the "T" or "ST"...

Noel wrote (in another thread, which I will not hijack): "Instead I'll take on ~2 students at a time and focus on *making pilots* out of them, before taking on any more." Noel, thanks for bringing this up. I've been thinking about this, too. Our club uses the "platoon" system. That is just as...

Anybody familiar with this brand? The methods I'm trying are not working Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks, SA

I am looking for input on how different clubs work with their instructors. Do instructors pay the same dues and tow fees as all other members? If so, does your club "compensate" its instructors in any other way? Does your club pay for instructor refreshers or renewals? How about...

Hi, I am deeply saddened to have just learned of a fatal accident at the Ionia soaring contest. I don't want to post details because I don't know if the family has been notified. Contact me for details. I am not at the contest but have talked briefly with contest...

Leah and I are down here at Chilhowee for a VSA rally and had an enjoyable flight in the Ka7 today attempting a silver altitude gain for the highly sought after VSA Silver Coin. Unfortunately by the time we were hot, tired, hungry, in pain, and had to pee we hadn't quite made the gain. I found...

Hi All - I need to prepare paper maps for the upcoming Minden and Montague contests. I purchased a copy of GlidePlan last year (?), but GlidePlan seems to be no longer supported (emails to the author yield no reply) and there are no map updates on the web site for this year... Any suggestions ?...

Congratulations to Windward Performance and their new Duckhawk, and Chip Garner for being the USA champion in the 15m nationals at Mifflin. Congrats also to Jerzy S for the overall win. Rick W