Private gliders at GGC - SZD-55

There are a number of privately owned gliders at GGC. One that is popular is the SZD-55, a Polish standard-class (that is, non-flapped) glider with 15 metre span.  It was designed in the late 80's, and has a glide ratio of about 43:1.  It has a distinctive silhouette, with a graceful elliptical wing.  It is fairly light - about 220 kg empty - and is very easy to assemble.

There are 3 at the club:

2D, owned by Dan Daly (outlanding in a field):

AT, owned by Roger Hildesheim (photo by Sonia; also in a field):

A more recent arrival, 55 (contest letters for tail a work in progress), owned by Jarek Twardowski, on final at Pendleton.  Photo by Tom Hastie.  Looking great!

The instrument panel of 2D looks like this in flight (over Ridge Soaring in Pennsylvania):

On the left is an anti-collision system (PowerFLARM), then a variometer (LX V3, shows rate of climb, average climb, speed to fly, altitude), Airspeed indicator, Android phone with soaring software (XC Soar - it is more visible in the air than this photo would suggest), which is higher in this photo than normal so the other instruments are more visible, a stall-warning system (red LED), then, bottom row, another variometer, soaring computer (LX7007), and altimeter. The red handle is canopy jettison, the yellow is the rope release, and the brown is for adjusting the rudder pedals.  Just below is a microair radio.

The anti-collision system is new, and this is the first analysis of how well it is working - an average 5 km range with other fitted gliders:

I will post information on other privately owned GGC gliders from time to time.

Dan
2D

Waiting to Clear!

Sunday started off pretty dreary with mist and rain for most of the morning. But like the old saying, good things come to those who wait, things cleared out and by 3:00 we had 3 kt thermals and high CUs!

Although most folks had called it a weekend and left early, Andrew and Ulo had a fun flights with guests and Nick and Christine got re-acquainted with Eastern Ontario soaring by going for a flight in the Puchacz. Now the only remaining question is:

What exactly are these guys looking at?

Cheers,
Roger

MayFly 2013 Wrap-Up

As I sit here today writing up a summary of the 2013 MayFly competition while looking out the window on a rainy day, I am still grinning about the flights of this past weekend.  Over 5700 km, flown by 12 pilots in two days.  What a contest!

This past weekend saw some of the best soaring conditions ever in eastern Ontario for the MayFly contest.  XC speeds hovered around the 90km/h mark on Friday and busted through 100 km/h on Saturday. Many pilots achieved personal best speeds, without water ballast. A screen capture of all the Saturday (Day 2) flight traces (below) tells the complete story. The sausage dinner on Saturday evening ensured that hangar flying sessions continued late into the night.

 In keeping with the MayFly mission, we held a very constructive review/analysis of flights using SeeYou on Sunday. Special thanks Ulli and Joerg for sharing their insights regarding competitive and XC soaring. I can honestly say that the Sunday flight review (it was really more like a class…) was one of the most informative and interactive sessions in recent memory.

Daily and overall scores are posted on the GGC MayFly Site. Thanks to Sonia for scoring and Nick for updating the scoring program.

1st Place - Pierre Gavillet (PG)

2nd Place - Team M7 (Martin Lacasse & Paul Goyette)

3rd Place - Dan Daly (2D)

To all the pilots who participated in MayFly, you conducted yourselves in a most professional manner and demonstrated exemplary airmanship. It was a pleasure to fly with you all.

Bravo-Zulu!

Roger

Back Online!

After some website updates and general E-cleanup, "This Week @ GGC" is back online.
Watch this blog for reports from our 2013 MayFly competition and glider meet that runs from May 17th to May 20th.
For more information on MayFly, follow the link below:
 2013 GGC MayFly Competition
 See you at the Aerodrome!