Wednesday, September 21, 2011

First XC in W3

Website: www.joeyglide.com.au
Facebook: Adam Woolley's Gliding Adventures

Date: 17/09/11
Flight: http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=2130654
Stats: Planned 400km flight.  Outlanded @ 267km. 78.9kph; 3.4kt average climbs (40% thermalling); 30:1 for 9.3km glides at an average of 68kts.

 



1st Cross-Country in my Cirrus, W3. Started straight away into building conditions. Had a good run to Miles on the first leg, staying high and taking reasonable climbs.

Turned Miles for Kingaroy with out any issues. Decided mid-leg that I would get home too early, so decided to extend the task to shoot for 400k+. Once I turned, had one more reasonable climb before slowly heading on the downward slope. Climbing conditions were forever changing, and lacked feel.

After analysing the flight further, I recalled the last climb at 2.4kts.  There was actually nothing wrong with the climb, just lacked feel.  I left the climb at 3000AGL thinking I could find something a little better up ahead.  This was the final straw, the air went smooth and hardly got another bump after this one.  Looking back now, I should’ve seen the writing on the wall and been more patient.  Though having said that, I need to ensure that my bottom to top averager is correct so I can make better decisions in the future.

 
I spoke to Allan Barnes after the flight, he said that the conditions were transiting from closely spaced climbs, to much larger. I sadly missed the next climb before the 9,000'+ blue conditions started late in the day.

Oh well, such is life. Still learning so much about the glider. Thermalling at 40kts, still to slow I think. Will jack it up at the state comps to 45kts.

Some positive attributes to the flight, I was very happy with how I left climbs - never once did I hold onto a climb hoping it'd get better, and as such my altitude trace all had sharp points!  Inter thermal cruising was good too for the conditions, though I'm going to start experimenting with MC, rather than block speeds.

On a side note, took all the sealing out of the canopy as an experiment - had air going here, there and everywhere. Though much better than the ear-piercing buzz that the mylars created.

Next flight will be at the QLD State Soaring Championships!

SeeYou!

Monday, September 12, 2011

WPP is back in the game!

Where have all the years gone?  After my posts stopped in 2007, I basically gave up gliding for the career.  Which has turned out to be the best thing I ever did for myself, now secure, with my own glider again and at my favourite gliding club - www.kingaroysoaring.com.au

I now own a Schempp-Hirth, Standard Cirrus 75B, GQT.  Which is sentimental to me, as it was my fathers first ever glider too!  It's had numerous other owners over the years, most recently the Warwick Gliding Club.  They've looked after this machine and generously allowed me to buy it off them with a deal.  The glider now sports a new panel, and fresh new look. Totally sealed and race ready.  All that is left is to fit winglets, mountain high EDS O2 system and possibly some bug wipers!





 This year I plan to fly a G Dale coaching course, QLD & NSW State Soaring Championships, the Club and Multi-Class Nationals and CD JoeyGlide (www.joeyglide.com.au)!  Hopefully bring you all the action live from here, my twitter account: getsoaring and my facebook page: Adam Woolley's Gliding Adventures.

For now, here's a post I've previously sent out - just to get the ball rolling!



After a few false starts on previous weekends, today the conditions and club operations finally permitted our first flights! Today had a top of 5-19*c with a westerly breeze of approx 10kts.

Dad looked at his logbook for when he last flew GQT, it was on the 10th April, 1982.  That's over 29 years ago!!  Dad had a great first flight back in his first ever glider, even saw a few wing-overs!


Next up, WPP's turn.  Conditions had eased a lot since my check flight, with barely 2kts around.  That didn't matter, what I noticed straight away after tow was the quiet cockpit (all the sealing work), the vario's working nicely and the LX talking to the winpilot PRO!  Sadly, never really left circling flight and didn't go over 55kts (~110kph).  But, very happy with the crisp handling of the cirrus and my purchase.



Bring on a great season and many more moons of racing!!