23 August - PowerFLARM installation - RM

A PowerFLARM Brick was installed into the club ASW-20 this afternoon.

Here is a picture of the system on the bench, prior to connection for software loading:

RM panel - rear.  USB pass-through on left, and new capacity for the Winter vario

While we were in the panel, we replaced the capacity that was in RM, with a new Winter 0.45 l capacity. We also added a bit of weight to zero the needle, and tightened the instrument glass, which was not very tight. We hope this cures the -- interesting -- vario performance which has been seen by RM's pilots to date.  Please let me know how it works.

The pass-through for USB, just by Wolfgang's left hand

USB pass-through. Insert USB stick to load flarmcfg.txt and download igc files.  Green switch is power. LED is now non-functional.

GPS puck forward of the Bohli compass

Here's the location of the main box, with the Transponder/ADS-B receive antenna on top.  A bit messy - the wires will be shortened later (they won't move around now).  You cannot really see it, with the panel re-installed.

RM Brick/Antenna.  You can see the arm holding the display above, left.

RM's PowerFLARM showing 2D's position.  1 NM scale; 42 ft higher; 0.0 NM away; 0.1 kt climb, 2D.

2D's PowerFLARM showing RM; 2 NM range scale; 45 ft lower, 0.0 NM away, not climbing, RM. 

The two gliders were in the main hangar, about 75 feet apart.  The systems use GPS altitude (always the same in the same area), not pressure altitude, which can vary a lot.  With only 2 hangar doors open, and few satellites in view, I assume multi-path propagation and signal reflection caused the altitude errors in this picture (you don't see such errors outside).

To change range scales, press (GENTLY) and turn the knob.  There is a database for PowerFLARM-equipped gliders, where you can insert contest letters, name, home field, frequency to contact, etc - called FLARMnet.  All GGC gliders are in the latest bfn file (0019bd.bfn).  The file will be updated on a frequent basis (when I do mine).

We buttoned up the ASW-20 and 2D, and then installed updated pockets on the right side of CZ's cockpit.  This will give a better place to store things while we fly - and it was a lot of work from Wolfgang to get them to this point.  Here's a picture of Wolfgang positioning the pockets:

Another nice day of work at the club. It was very pleasant; Bob came out to fly the RV-6 too.  The clouds looked soarable, and it was nice and cool - much better than earlier in the week.  I'd like to thank Wolfgang for coming out to help.

Dr Jack says Saturday will be very, very good... see you at the club!  And, plan to fly early and often on Sunday - yours truly is AM Field Manager!

Dan

Freedom's Wings day - August 15

From Doug L-L (President of GGC):

Today was a beautiful sunny day at Pendleton, starting out with clear blue skies which were later adorned with scattered cumulus clouds. Runway 26 was in operation and the wind was not too strong but brisk enough to break up the thermals.  We had a total of seven flights, one in the L-23 Blanik and six in the Puchacz. There were five Freedom's Wings flights in the Puchacz, and Rob Williams flew three of them, Ulo flew one, and I flew two.  Then Ulo had a flight with Roberto Figueroa in the Blanik, and Wally had a flight in the Puchacz. None were of a great duration, but the people from the Ottawa Rehab hospital had a great time, and Roberto snuck in his flight before having to head off to Maine for a brief holiday with his family, and Wally had a pleasant flight, mostly upwind of Pendleton with respect for the wind conditions. Greg came out to supervise and thanks to Luc Savoie for towing in the Pawnee.

Cindy des Lauriers was the recreation Therapist in charge of the Ottawa Rehab. group. I flew with Joe Dorning who had been a Vampire and F-86, Sabre pilot in the RCAF Reserves (a good while ago), and is interested in joining our Club.

 

 

 A great day was had by all, and thanks for all the help.

37th and climbing

After Sunday, we swept past Kansas and are only 650 km behind Winnipeg... 37th and climbing. 134 flights by 16 pilots... Yay us!

Instead of floating around the field, why not go down to the St Lawrence Seaway and watch the freighters go by from 5,000'?

And it gets better

And it gets better... That only counts the Canadian km. If you select "North America" - all, we have 26,537 km, and sit at #38 of 190 clubs... With 1,200 km today, we can pass Kansas Soaring Assoc and Winnipeg!

The 'kilometrage' in the US is Nick's contests, and the people who go to the Ridge. Coming up, Lake Placid is also an opportunity to pile up the kms!

I find the desire to go further on OLC has really pushed me to get outside gliding range of the field. If you're wanting to do that, why not have the OLC help?

Dan
2D - 1477 km in North America so far this year

1,922 km + today - August 10th

From Ron Smith (Z7):

Nick B. flew his LAK 17 405 km, Ulli W. flew his ASW-20 379 km, I flew the LAK 12 354 km, Martin L. flew the GGC ASW-24 293 km, Roger H. flew his SZD-55 296 km, and Dan D flew his SZD-55 195 km. Although they did not log their km-s, Norm F. was out with his Discuss, Karl B. with his ASW-20, Jarek with his SZD-55, Wolfgang W. with the GGC ASW-20, Gord with his ASW-20, Tim T. with the GGC L-33, and ...

Today, I counted at least 8 sailplane pilots strewn along the St-Lawrence between Cornwall and Gananoque Way - 5 from GGC, 2 from MSC, 1 from RVS...  and we all knew each other... a real airborne community !

To date this year, GGC sailplane pilots have flow 22.111 km... that is over half way around the world (40,075 km) on solar power !

If you are not flying cross-country, give serious consideration to joining us because it is FUN !

And if you are not logging your km-s on OLC, give serious consideration so that we can move up from 4th position to hopefully 1st !

Ron

What Do a P-47 and L-23 Have in Common?

During one the days earlier this week when storm cells were racing through the region, one of our members got caught off guard by the high winds and had to make an safe outlanding (a good call) in a field 3 km south of the our aerodrome. Everyone was relieved to see that the pilot made the right decision and that both he and the glider were in fine condition. However the smiles quickly turned to frowns when we found out that the glider being flown was the L-23. With only a partly serviceable trailer available, everyone knew that this would be…well…interesting.

Well, the glider came apart quickly and after three trips to bring all the pieces home, the task of reassembly began. I could go on but I think the following video clip is a better description of what was involved in “reassembly”….. 

Uncrating & Assembly of the P-47 Thunderbolt Airplane

6 Aug - what a day!

The club participates in an "online contest", where logs from secure data recorders are shared with other glider pilots (onlinecontest.org - select Gliding, then, Canada, then, ON/QC).  Gatineau now has logged over 20,000 km of cross-country flying in Canada (a bit more for North America, where flights in the US count).  This puts us fifth in the region, of 12, and rarely, in front of SOSA.  The Club de vol a voile de Quebec (CVVQ) is only 800 km ahead of us...  something to aim for!

Thanks to Rick and Peter for the tows, and Ullo for the tireless instructing.  A couple or three of airtow retrieves got our friends home, when the weather cycled, and they landed at convenient airfields (Plantagenet and Windover Field).  

We're doing a cross-country week, but the weather Wednesday and Thursday doesn't look good, but Friday may be spectacular...  watch this space.

Here are pictures from Tuesday's flying courtesy of Roberto Figueroa.

L23 on tow behind Pawnee (nice sky)

Jarek beside 55 (Norm in back)

Norm in IN

Roger in AT with Lucile

Wolfgang in M7, the club ASW24 - the CFI goes flying!

Nick's flight - south to the Seaway, north of the Ottawa River, 

Haweskbury and home - 335 km at 85 kph... nice!

Today - Sunday 5 August -  was a cracking day ay Pendleton for the Gatineau Gliding Club. The skies were crisp, clear and blue initially with myriads of cumulus clouds as the day wore on. As it transpired it was a good thermalling day for most, even if a little challenging. We had a record turnout for this season, with 32 flights in all. After a few training flights at the beginning of the day's flying, an array of private owner ships looked like the take-ff grid for the Nationals, and were launched by two tow planes in quick succession. Most of them, once launched, were gone for the afternoon, and included: Ulli Werneberg; Wolfgang (in M7), followed by Rick Sudycko later in M7; Roger in 'AT'; Jarek in his new (SZD-55) toy; Dan in 2D (the first time the 3 SZD-55's at the club were up together; Nick Bonniere; Ian Fortin (who had two flights); Ron Smith; Jacques Asselin; and Ulo Okapuu.
Nick landed out at 'Williams field North', down near Prescott, and being a 3,500 ft., strip, was able to be towed out by Simon Dufour in the Pawnee. When I left for home, the only one still aloft was Ulo Okapuu, and I hope he arrived back, without circumnavigating the globe. I was on duty in the morning but ended up instructing until the close of operations, alongside Gord Jeremic, the afternoon instructor, due to the increasing numbers turning up at the airfield to fly. Gord and I, each flew Evan Dewe, the newest SAC bursary holder on one flight each, and I checked out Roberto Figeuroa to go solo in IFX. I also gave Len Faskin a couple of flights in the Puchacz and cleared him for a flight in our L-33, Tango Romeo. I also flew David 'Jeneton', and his son, both visiting from Cambridge, England. David bought a 5-Pack, and I flew his 12-year-old son as my guest. David and his son came with David's father, who is Canadian, and who Martin Lacasse and I met at the breakfast fly-n at Saint Andre-Avellin a couple of weeks ago.
Martin Lacasse, Greg Baumeister, and Tom Hastie, each had a flight in our ASW-20. Rob Williams had a couple of flights with passengers in the Puchacz, and I completed the day with Peter Muhl, who has artificial claw grips where his hands were (lost in a machine press accident), on a Freedom's Wings flight. Peter, who is getting married at the end of the month, exhibited remarkable dexterity, with his artificial hand replacements, performing turns onto headings and thermalling under guidance.

All in all, we had five flights in BQN, five flights in the Puchacz, three flights in the ASW-20, one flight in the L-33, and six flights in the Super Blanik. One other event worth remarking on was a call down fro Air Transat Flight 209, at 40,000 ft., heading into Toronto from Europe. I had hoped to make John W., jealous by flying with Sandrine, at the time, but she was probably already awaiting his return in Montreal.

Sky in the Gatineau Hills - by Martin Lacasse in RM at 5,000'

Doug L-L.