How far can it go?

tonycondon

tonycondon

Gastons CRO (Chief Dinner Reservation Officer)
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Tony
Occasionally when I visit farmers with my glider they ask what sort of distances a glider can travel. I usually tell them my personal best (195ish miles), the state record (430 miles) and the current world record (3009 kilometers, over 1800 miles). 1800 miles!

Klaus Ohlmann has made a regular habit of going to South America every winter (summer down there) to break more of his own world records. He holds nearly every open class distance and speed record.

2 days ago he re-set the Triangle Distance and Free Triangle Distance records at 1750 km and established the Speed around a 1750 km record at about 120 kph. I wonder how long before we see a 2000 km triangle...

His report (translated from German):

World record 1750,6 km declared triangle, 1755,5 km free triangle and
Speed task for a 1750 km triangle with 119,29 km/h.

It was really a great day for me. I have worked so hard for years, of
course with a lot of pleasure, to find different solutions for this
triangle stuff, which, as we know, is not really adapted for wave-
flying. I'm quite sure, that this is the best solution for the
problem.

There are certainly better days than yesterday to do this flight.

The first 200 km were weak and blue until El Maiten. But even then it
was not easy to find the best lifts. I stopped climbing most of the
time in 4000m due to weaker lifts above. I was one hour too late at
the first TP. But the second leg was better than in the planning with
one great lift in the middle of nowhere. It was the only one up to FL
195 on this leg, the rest were only weak alignments above the cumulus.
After TP 2 I was forced to pass below the clouds in thermals, due to
lack of wave lifts, which were strong enough. It was a long trip
between "hope and fear" against the wind. I tried always to go more to
El Maiten to come back to the first wave line, a little bit closer to
home. But finally I went back to the south due to the enormous Rotor
lennies formed there. No regrets, up to 9 m/s!! The rest was a last
race against the end of the daylight. As always, it was this mixture
of adapted planning during one week, hope, determination and good
luck, which makes our sport so exciting.

Klaus Ohlmann
Click to expand...

The flight: http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?dsId=1604149
 
you stay awake for 14 hrs of a time doing a lot less exciting things than setting world soaring records.

modern gliders are actually very comfortable. reclined seating positions and other creature comforts to make long flights possible.
 
Also there are ways of releasing ballast, so you don't have to "pull over" every few hours :-)

 
Also there are ways of releasing ballast, so you don't have to "pull over" every few hours :-)

 
AdamZ said:
My lord over 14 hours how did he stay awake and not cramp up?
Click to expand...

And practice/conditioning I got to fly my glider quite a bit this summer. By the end of the summer I was getting to where at 7 hours I still didn't need to or even want to come down, I was just having to much fun playing in the air currents.

However my Wife and Son on the ground were thinking at 7 hours it was time for me to take them to dinner. :)

Brian

here is a 6+ hour flight
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?flightId=1078982397
 
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I want to get glider ratings really bad, however the local soaring clubs seem to have some "steep" initiation and membership fees. Is that common?

They seem very affordable to fly otherwise. I've heard nothing teaches basic stick and rudder like soaring (or tail wheel flying)
 
when you join a club you are taking part ownership of the equipment and facilities. Depending on how nice those facilities and equipment are and how much the club relies on paid vs. volunteer labor to keep things running the initiation fees can be somewhat daunting.

I presume you've been looking at the Texas Soaring Association (The OTHER TSA) http://www.texassoaring.org/ They're one of the oldest clubs in the country and well established. I'd recommend them.

There is also a commercial op at Midlothian. http://www.bigqaviation.com/rates.html

Might do the math and see if the money spent up front for club dues balances out the higher per hour costs at the commercial op. The other thing to consider is the community and camaraderie that the club operation is sure to provide. Go out and visit them and see how you like it.
 
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