Gentlemen,
My comment regarding weather impacts at Ararat applied only to
winching in the event that a split operation was in place. Also, it
is my understanding that there is a winch at the Marsh which is used
occasionally, so they could offer a full service if required.
Geoff V
At 09:48 PM 10/09/2007 +1000, DMcD wrote:
>Content-Disposition: inline
>
>I guess not many of you have read this article, or had not read
it
>when you replied to the original post. Doesn't the guy
say
>
>"For pilots used to low cost modern varios with large LCD
screens,
>integrated GPS, loggers and glide computers, the instruments
in
>sailplanes are very retro... So you must learn to appreciate
period
>aircraft. On balance that's a very good thing. There's
little point
>in learning to drive in a Ferrari and then graduating to a Combi
van."
>
>It's not a claim that HG instruments are better, just different.
And
>for do we really think training in a DG 1000 is better than a
Blanik
>or a Poopateck? After the Lord Mayor comes the dung cart. Is the
new
>pilot going to go solo in the DG or the K6?
>
>I've flown a sailplane listening to the audio of a hang gliding
vario
>while occasionally looking at the (inaccurate) needle of the
glider's
>own vario. Since most of the sensations in a thermal are through
the
>seat of your pants, does it really matter if the needle on the
vario
>resolves to 0.05 kts up, or 0.5? Are thermal cores that
steady?
>
>There's been a heap of traffic on this list about PDAs. Well in
my
>opinion, the latest generation of hang gliding varios look a
heap more
>powerful and convenient and easy to use than this.
>
>Glider pilots in general have a terrific ability to be sucked
down the
>technology tunnel and miss why we go gliding in the first place.
To
>have FUN!
>
>So does it matter if you are not flying the latest 60:1 carbon
fibre
>glider? Obviously not, or the average age of gliders in this
country
>would be younger than 25 years and nobody would fly Libelles
and
>Cirruses. Personally, the most fun I have had this year was in a
T31
>with my head in the air.
>
>Do you have more fun scratching around a 750 km triangle in a
60:1
>glider than in a 14 :1 glider? Are you better for doing this
than
>someone like Wolf Hirth or Phillip Wills flying a few hundred
kms (in
>a straight line)? I think not. In fact I would guess that both
pilots
>had a similar amount of fun... or maybe the pilot in the
lower
>performing glider had more...
>
>At the HG worlds last month, there was a task of over 280 kms. I
am
>sure that Lillienthal would have appreciated that. He would
have
>appreciated the 300 kms declared triangle done by Gerolf
Heinrichs
>just before Christmas this year.
>
>I've flown paragliders, hang gliders and sailplanes. Guess what?
It's
>all just gliding. Each has its own attractions. You might infer
from
>the fact that there are probably three times as many paraglider
pilots
>as sailplane pilots that paragliders were more fun. Certainly
the
>anarchic ability to launch where you want, when you want, with
your
>own portable low-cost aircraft has a certain attraction,
especially
>for generation Y-ers.
>
>But our man was not a generation Y-er... not if he had spent 30
years
>hang gliding. In fact he'd probably be counted as an old fart
like
>most glider pilots.
>
>I think it's odd that in the main, the comments made about
this
>article in this newsgroup were negative. That's OK if there are
enough
>glider pilots for the next 20 years. But there are not. Gliding
>desperately needs more. Why can't these come from people who already
>have shown a dedication to gliding? Like hang and paraglider pilots.
>Welcome them in!
>
>And on a closing note.... Having spent the last week deep in the guts
>of a Blanik, my thought is that if the Wright brothers had invented
>one of these, the world would have beat a hasty retreat to the simple
>and elegant solution of weight shift control. In the time it takes to
>remove and replace a flap, you could build several hang gliders! Think
>about it. No weight and balance. No spins. No control surfaces.
>Nothing to grease. The entire airframe costing around the same as a
>glider canopy. And I'm not even going to get into the relative debate
>on safety.
>
>D McD.
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