I made it back

Somewhat revolutionary (for me), I actually returned to my point of
takeoff yesterday after a good cross country flight. I took the new-
ish to me NG-1 (a modified BG-12/16) out for a 300 km FAI triangle.
Had a good time, finished the task, and didn't need a retrieve. I can
see why you guys like more L's and fewer D's. Check out the final
glide. Flight report he http://soaringcafe.com/2011/06/diamond-goal/

On Jun 6, 10:55*am, Tony wrote:
Somewhat revolutionary (for me), I actually returned to my point of
takeoff yesterday after a good cross country flight. *I took the new-
ish to me NG-1 (a modified BG-12/16) out for a 300 km FAI triangle.
Had a good time, finished the task, and didn't need a retrieve. *I can
see why you guys like more L's and fewer D's. *Check out the final
glide. Flight report hehttp://soaringcafe.com/2011/06/diamond-goal/

Good on you, Tony! I believe NG-1 was built by Jerry Nedouer, we tried
for our Diamond distance flights on the same day back in 1976? From
Minden to somewhere in the Owens Valley to Hawthorne. Jerry mad it and
completed his Diamond badge. I landed short in my Duster, .......... L/
D is a relative thing.
Cheers,
JJ

On Jun 6, 3:20*pm, JJ Sinclair wrote:
On Jun 6, 10:55*am, Tony wrote:

Somewhat revolutionary (for me), I actually returned to my point of
takeoff yesterday after a good cross country flight. *I took the new-
ish to me NG-1 (a modified BG-12/16) out for a 300 km FAI triangle.
Had a good time, finished the task, and didn't need a retrieve. *I can
see why you guys like more L's and fewer D's. *Check out the final
glide. Flight report hehttp://soaringcafe.com/2011/06/diamond-goal/

Good on you, Tony! I believe NG-1 was built by Jerry Nedouer, we tried
for our Diamond distance flights on the same day back in 1976? From
Minden to somewhere in the Owens Valley to Hawthorne. Jerry mad it and
completed his Diamond badge. I landed short in my Duster, .......... L/
D is a relative thing.
Cheers,
JJ

JJ - yes, Jerome Niedrauer. His son Eric is still flying the Pik 20
they bought to replace the NG-1. He'll be in Wichita this fall to see
the old bird. I'll look in the logs for his diamond distance flight.
I'm pretty sure he did all his diamonds in the glider.

Indeed

Efficiency is addictive.
Moved from Bergfalke 2-55 (1:26) to Std Cirrus (1:37) to Kestrel 19 (1:44)
The low L/D number is not the main constraint - the speed means there
are a whole new world of tasks that become possible.

Welcome to the dark side.

Getting home is sometimes less adventurous and probably less fun, but is
a whole lot more compatible with family and commitments...

So far I am scoring more than 3 to 1 on the number of times I have
fetched outlanders, vs times I have needed to be fetched. Probably
means I'm not trying hard enough.

Bruce



On 2011/06/06 7:55 PM, Tony wrote:
Somewhat revolutionary (for me), I actually returned to my point of
takeoff yesterday after a good cross country flight. I took the new-
ish to me NG-1 (a modified BG-12/16) out for a 300 km FAI triangle.
Had a good time, finished the task, and didn't need a retrieve. I can
see why you guys like more L's and fewer D's. Check out the final
glide. Flight report he http://soaringcafe.com/2011/06/diamond-goal/

--
Bruce Greeff
T59D #1771

On Jun 6, 3:27*pm, BruceGreeff wrote:
Indeed

Efficiency is addictive.
Moved from Bergfalke 2-55 (1:26) to Std Cirrus (1:37) to Kestrel 19 (1:44)
The low L/D number is not the main constraint - the speed means there
are a whole new world of tasks that become possible.

Welcome to the dark side.

Getting home is sometimes less adventurous and probably less fun, but is
a whole lot more compatible with family and commitments...

So far I am scoring more than 3 to 1 on the number of times I have
fetched outlanders, vs times I have needed to be fetched. *Probably
means I'm not trying hard enough.

Bruce

On 2011/06/06 7:55 PM, Tony wrote:

Somewhat revolutionary (for me), I actually returned to my point of
takeoff yesterday after a good cross country flight. *I took the new-
ish to me NG-1 (a modified BG-12/16) out for a 300 km FAI triangle.
Had a good time, finished the task, and didn't need a retrieve. *I can
see why you guys like more L's and fewer D's. *Check out the final
glide. Flight report hehttp://soaringcafe.com/2011/06/diamond-goal/

--
Bruce Greeff
T59D #1771

this was my first soaring flight of the year that didn't result in a
landout. of course it was only my 4th soaring flight of the year. I
still flew about as slow on this flight as I did on my almost 300 km
out/return in the Cherokee last year. Most of that was on the upwind
leg, i was super conservative as I've learned over the years that its
hard to make progress on a task if you are sitting in a field.

On Jun 6, 5:16*pm, Tony wrote:
On Jun 6, 3:27*pm, BruceGreeff wrote:





Indeed

Efficiency is addictive.
Moved from Bergfalke 2-55 (1:26) to Std Cirrus (1:37) to Kestrel 19 (1:44)
The low L/D number is not the main constraint - the speed means there
are a whole new world of tasks that become possible.

Welcome to the dark side.

Getting home is sometimes less adventurous and probably less fun, but is
a whole lot more compatible with family and commitments...

So far I am scoring more than 3 to 1 on the number of times I have
fetched outlanders, vs times I have needed to be fetched. *Probably
means I'm not trying hard enough.

Bruce

On 2011/06/06 7:55 PM, Tony wrote:

Somewhat revolutionary (for me), I actually returned to my point of
takeoff yesterday after a good cross country flight. *I took the new-
ish to me NG-1 (a modified BG-12/16) out for a 300 km FAI triangle.
Had a good time, finished the task, and didn't need a retrieve. *I can
see why you guys like more L's and fewer D's. *Check out the final
glide. Flight report hehttp://soaringcafe.com/2011/06/diamond-goal/

--
Bruce Greeff
T59D #1771

this was my first soaring flight of the year that didn't result in a
landout. of course it was only my 4th soaring flight of the year. *I
still flew about as slow on this flight as I did on my almost 300 km
out/return in the Cherokee last year. *Most of that was on the upwind
leg, i was super conservative as I've learned over the years that its
hard to make progress on a task if you are sitting in a field.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Tony, for some reason I thought you did your 300k last year....am I
thinking of a near miss? Bruce is right; it's the speed.
Gary Adams GA2

Gary,

Last year I did an out and almost return Diamond Goal attempt in the
Cherokee. The write up for that one is on my Cherokee II blog as well
as Soaring Cafe. Total distance on that one was a touch over 300 km
but i ended up landing 4 miles short of the starting airport at 7:30
PM. That one was a 6.5 hr flight, about the same as Sunday.
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0...tId=1688698192

I also did a 300 km straight out flight last year for Gold Distance
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0...tId=1618688367

Interestingly the speed I made in the Cherokee on the out and return
was about the same as I made in the NG-1 on Sunday. I bet if I was in
a Nimbus I could still average 30 mph!

Hey Tony

My first 300km flight in my Cirrus I averaged below stall speed....

One of my difficulties moving from the plywood overcast was the much
greater variation in speeds. Wood and fabric ships often have a very
small drag bucket because of the airfoil and construction. So you fly
between thermals at a speed not that vastly different from your thermal
speed.

Then you get into something with very laminar wings and flaps and cruise
speed is anything up to 3x stall. Kestrel has about the same handicap as
a Ventus. Stall is 32.5kt - full of water at max wingloading and with
thermals in the 4-5m/s range my flight computer is indicating 90kt
cruise. That is a bit optimistic but not that much.

The ASG29/Ventus2/JS1 crowd disdain to fly slower than 110kt (200km/h)
between thermals most of the time...

Consequently I'm still waaay too slow in the Kestrel. It just feels
wrong to cruise at 80kt. But that is her sweet spot for most of our
conditions.

Even in our winter conditions the efficient cruise speed makes long
flights possible. Get it wrong and the retrieves are correspondingly
long. Personal record is 126km...

All I can say is thanks for GPS - at least you can get people to find
you down some obscure farm road in the middle of nowhere.

That said, there is no difference in the fun you can have at any given
performance level - it is just the distance you can cover , places you
can reach that changes. (and the cost, never forget the cost)

On 2011/06/08 04:08 AM, Tony wrote:
Gary,

Last year I did an out and almost return Diamond Goal attempt in the
Cherokee. The write up for that one is on my Cherokee II blog as well
as Soaring Cafe. Total distance on that one was a touch over 300 km
but i ended up landing 4 miles short of the starting airport at 7:30
PM. That one was a 6.5 hr flight, about the same as Sunday.
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0...tId=1688698192

I also did a 300 km straight out flight last year for Gold Distance
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0...tId=1618688367

Interestingly the speed I made in the Cherokee on the out and return
was about the same as I made in the NG-1 on Sunday. I bet if I was in
a Nimbus I could still average 30 mph!


--
Bruce Greeff
T59D #1771 & Std Cirrus #57