No License, Butt, plenty of experience Florida man here... Lived in NW, flown in more than several Gliders. Been winched up, car towed up, Pawnee towed up, worked the winch on way more than 20 flights alone, lots of hours in everything from a Stearman to F-4, 3 place gliders and 2 place gliders......

Volunteer Tow-pilots and CFIG wanted to join Sandhill Soaring Club, a 501(c)(3) not profit gliding club located in Gregory, Michigan, about 30 mins from Ann Arbor, Lansing, and western portions of Greater Metro Detroit. Fleet: (1) SGS-233; (1) ASK-13; (2) Grob 103 Twin II; (1) DG-505; (1) Open...

Updating files/firmware on my avionics should be easy. Then why is it so hard? Heck, I am an electrical engineer. I have been around computers since high school (early 70's). I was in Information Technology for MANY years and still do this on a volunteer basis. I should be able to handle...

I have a new glider on order and naturally I want to build-in all the things it will need over the next ten years at least, rather than adding things later piecemeal. In the non-carbon part of the fin I plan to have a radio aerial, a transponder aerial and a Flarm aerial. However it seems that...

Three people were killed in the crash of a 2-32 today.

Friends: I am trying to learn more about how different clubs with active XC pilots flying privately owned gliders handle the problem of determining "Is everybody back safely?" - before everybody at the airport goes home. In my club we frequently shut down training operations around 5:00 pm or so...

Hi I have read many articles published by Dick Johnson on performance of various gliders, but I cannot find any information on the methodology he used. The closest I have come to is this from Wikipedia "Flight Test Evaluation series starting in 1976, which measured the performance of sailplanes...

All the recent threads on the danger of inadvertent VMC into IMC flight without proper instrumentation has highlighted what I think is a needed bit of kit for the modern glider (i.e. one that has some sort of PDA/PNA/nav display in it's cockpit: An inexpensive stand-alone AHRS module that would...

So, if you were ordering a new Cobra trailer, would you order a fiberglass top or an aluminum top? For sake of discussion, lets exclude obvious price difference. I've never seen an aluminum top with insulation. What type of insulation is used and is it worth the 1000 plus euros? For those having...

I have been battling with the Delorme folks a bit and have won a big, big argument with them that I think will benefit some of you. The frustration I have had with Spot is its poor website interface, sub standard social app integration and general poor usability. The Spot connect device for...

The value of the US dollar compared to the Euro has dropped 24% during the past year. Therefore the price of sailplanes manufactured in Europe has risen a corresponding 24%. In fact, a similar impact is being felt in all countries outside Europe. Will this end the purchase of new sailplanes by...

Just saw on the SSA website that the R12 contest has been cancelled. Anyone know the story and reason(s)? Just curious as I was thinking of attending at one point but could not rearrange my schedule Ron Gleason

I wrote an article for Soaring, that will appear in the July issue. Title: "Gizmo Future." A somewhat unusual view of the "what's in the future for Soaring" kind of article. It's on my webpage if you just can't wait for...

I find my checklist is expanding, and there are some people who have a sort of 'flip book' attached to the top of the glareshield and I was wondering if someone could share some details. Other ideas also very welcome, Brian

You should take a look at this: http://www.dg-flugzeugbau.de/holm-dg300-e.html Marc

Dramatic cockpit video of a midair collision with a tow rope getting caught in the prop of another plane. The pilot was able to deploy his ballistic parachute and safely descend. No mention of what happened to the towplane. Video is from CNN on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTemKnL8X30

Greetings, Off season (northern hemisphere) is coming. What are the top 2-3 soaring simulators or is there a clear winner? Thanks, Gary

http://www.ntsb.gov/NTSB/brief.asp?ev_id=20060906X01297&key=2 For you amateur FAR lawyers to chew on: "The glider was equipped with a panel mounted communication radio, global positioning system (GPS) unit, and a transponder; however, the pilot did not turn on the GPS and transponder. The...

I'd like to replace my current digital camera with one better suited to pictures from my glider, but I'm having difficulty finding one with the features I want. Perhaps someone has solved my problem already, or at least has a way of finding a suitable camera without days of downloading brochures...

If you have a Turn Area Task and you fly into turn 1, then fly into turn 2 then pass through the finish circle could/should it be possible to leave the finish circle and return to turn 2 and fly deeper into the circle than you did the first time and then return to the finish circle? On an option...