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Friday, 15 August 2008
David
This is the last entry from Luesse in Germany.
It’s raining today so the contest is finished. Overall I achieved 9th
place, my highest so far in a World level event. There is still a lot to
learn about the way it is all done at this level however I have taken a
few more steps towards the ultimate goal of winning for Australia.
There are a lot of issues to think about,
especially in relation to the starting process.
I’d like to thank all the well wishers from back
home, it was wonderful to receive all your support.
Wishing all the team a safe trip back to Australia
 .
Graham August 15
Day 8 saw a merciful slackening of the wind that has
plagued us during this competition. It was still 15 kts plus, but that is
tranquil serenity around here. David and I decided to make more of an
effort to stay together, as on the previous 2 days when we were isolated,
one or other of us came to grief. All too easy to happen here.
Our task was a 422km tour of Poland, and there was a
prediction of thick cirrus in the task area. We made a perfect start in
good (even by Aussie standards) conditions, with most of the pack in front
of us. I had to wait for David for a minute or so early on the first leg.
He more than repaid this by finding us an 8kt climb just before the Polish
border, which got us in with the front gaggle. Poland was indeed under a
blanket of heavy cirrus and the rest of the task was pretty much a matter
of survival. David and I survived better than most, finishing one and two
for the day.
A very sweet way to end the competition, as today
looks like being rained out.
Thursday, 14 August 2008
David
Australia 1 & 2 today. Yahoo!!
The winds began to abate today however there was
a cirrus overcast to contend with. Our first two legs went relatively
quickly and we rounded up the front runners. From there it was a
co-operative effort trying to stay out of trouble in the much weaker
conditions. We separated on the final leg as Graham and the gaggle
departed 1,000’ above me. They took a westerly route home under small cu
whilst I tracked direct and found a nice 5kt climb which I had all to
myself. At the finish Graham and I came together again and the pack
followed us in.
Wednesday, 13 August 2008
David
Post frontal cool air today with 20-30kts gusting
to 35kts for the launch. Early cloud development with showers and the risk
of the day falling apart saw us with a moderate size task initially
downwind to the East then South and home. Quite strong lift and the
encroaching high pressure settled the day down to one of the best so far.
Most of the class went around in under 3 hours so a devalued day.
I caught the winners before the first turn making
up 6 minutes on them however led out on the second leg and was jumped on
the way home. 10th for the day and up a few places overall for
the competition. Graham was caught down low where the wind was stronger
and the thermals were completely cut to pieces. He was in the second
gaggle and they were making very good time as well. He took the safe
option of landing at Reinsdorf rather than risking the glider in a paddock
with such strong winds.
Graham 14 August
What a nightmare yesterday. I got separated from
everyone straight after the start and flew basically alone for most of the
day. Conditions were very unpleasant, with 30kt winds at all levels.
Eventually I made a mistake and got down to about 2000 feet, where it was
like being tossed around in a washing machine. Bubbles and scraps of lift
but nothing I could work to stay airborne. Splat! End of story for the
day.
One day a
rooster, next day a feather duster. That’s gliding for you
Monday, 11 August 2008
David
It was a bit more like Australia today with
lighter winds and solid cu with predictable lift. Graham and I spent most
of the day with team Theisinger, having finally figured out that you have
to be part of a group on most days. They made a bad decision towards the
end of the flight and Graham and I ran away from them. I had a couple of
great climbs but then somebody flicked the thermal “off” switch and I went
from 6,000’ to below 1,000’ off the deck in one glide. Getting low blew my
speed out of the water however Graham held it together for us and brought
home first place for Australia today. Well done Graham.
11TH August
From John
Fortunately the task was an AAT and by
flying along a few streets in the better airmasses we were able to make
deviations to touch the 20 km and 30 km circles at 2 of the turn points.
However, as has been the way of the
comp., if you got off the bus your speed suffered. I never really got with
a gaggle but I did have a couple of markers for 80 km or so and then a
lowish spot put me on my own. I flew the correct tracks for the best
conditions but the gaggles just do it so much better. They are like a team
– spread out and stretching their glides as those who mark the lift and
sink ahead get passed by those behind who see the better air. Then the
process rolls on again – allowing quite high speeds to be achieved and the
carriage of full water. I dropped 40% water at my first low spot because
you do not want to be alone and low in this place. The thermals are only
narrow bubbles and quite fickle. It is too easy to miss them when you are
alone and since all the ground is green it is very difficult to know where
the thermals come from. Also when the clouds are about 2000 ft above you
they are pretty useless indicators of the lift. So going under them when
half way down the convection height only gives you about a 50% chance of
mediocre lift. I noticed a couple of times pilots pushing on into wind
from this mediocre lift and were sometimes rewarded with a good climb from
the next bubble – presumably from the same source. The various greens are
different crops and different trees etc. Ingo told us to fly according to
the ground and not the clouds using the example that pine forests do not
have leaves to absorb the heat like the other forests – of a different
green.
Above all though, in 18m class at
least, the gaggles form at the start line as there usually is only one
“optimum” point to start from. Then you should try to stay with a group.
I find this a bit hard to do – even though with 50 gliders in the class
you would think it pretty hard not to be with a group. You have to know
when to stop being independent and know when to go with the flow.
Graham 12 August
Yesterday we decided to play the game, start with
the pack and see how it all went. So there we were hanging around after
the start, with the threat of high cloud and storms bringing an early end
to the day, with all our instincts telling us to get going. In the end we
started in a really nice group, with the German team just in front. We
managed to reel them in and then rolled along together for about 200km.
For once the wind wasn’t so strong which made things easier for us.
With about 80km to go the Germans made what we
considered to be an error, tracking along the river, so David and I went
our own way. At this stage David probably had the day won as he picked up
a bubble the got him a good thousand feet higher than I was.
But the sky in the third sector was falling to bits
in front of us. David unfortunately flew into a dead area and got very
low. I deviated 110 degrees off track for a few kilometers to a better
looking part of the sky, was rewarded with a solid climb to cloud base and
scooted off home as fast as I could. Finally a result!
Today
looks hopeless. Rain and low cloud
David
No flying today due to bad weather although
Graham and I participated in some flying for the air show at the request
of the organisation. After lunch Lesley and I headed into Berlin for the
afternoon and visited the Brandenburg Gate and Checkpoint Charlie. It
rained for the entire afternoon.
Graham 10 August
Well it isn’t quite yet to the stage of curling up
in a dark corner in the foetal position but after getting run over and
trampled on by the gaggle yet again we have to take another look at what
we are doing wrong. OK, so the conditions are still difficult; we have had
strong winds every contest day, yesterday again there were large areas of
overdevelopment and there are areas such as river valleys and restricted
airspace to be avoided all the time. But as soon as we make one incorrect
decision amongst all this it seems that the gaggle is all over us.
Our strategy so far has been to fly our own race;
choosing our start time and picking our own way around the task area. This
is what we mostly do in Australia; with scattered start points it is hard
to see what everyone else is up to and gaggles are less likely to form.
Not so here. When conditions are tough the guys deliberately stay
together; they know that the collective mind of the gaggle is always going
to prevail in these conditions, and the winner is the one who uses the
gaggle most efficiently.
The weather forecast is for more of the same over
the coming week so we may re-think our strategy and start to play their
game. Or risk going out backwards.
Today there is heavy overcast and it looks like rain
is coming. We may even get to see the airshow which is planned for today.
They are expecting a crowd of 10 thousand people at the airfield. Not
what we are used to seeing at our comps in Aus!
David 9th August
It looked to be a nice fair weather cumulus day
so Graham and I were both optimistic about doing well. We planned our
flight and pretty much flew our plan. We started well and didn’t get into
any real trouble. There was some overdevelopment and about 15kts of wind
and sometimes a little stronger at altitude. Maximum height today was
under 6,000’. It appears we were the first to leave so approaching the
third turn the gaggle ran us down and just flew right by. What can I say;
I obviously don’t seem to be getting to grips with the way things are done
over here!!
David
You need not feel that you will be alone when you
outland in Germany, help is close at hand...
Thanks to Alfred Spindelberger from Cobra trailers
who supplied me with a ramp this morning
David 8th August
Hmmm...yesterday, Graham and I hung around for
almost an hour after the gate opened as we had decided we could do well on
a blue day by jumping gaggles. It worked really well for us and as the day
ended we were out front and there were no more thermals for us. The gaggle
coming from behind found a few more and the majority of pilots did a
greater distance as a result. No one from the 15m class made it home.
If we had left when the gate opened we might have
been the only two to get around however had the day developed as forecast
there was a strong possibility we could have run the field down as well!!
The day reminded me of Benalla where the Open Class had been set a 750km
task and all but one in the fleet (Ingo) were still overhead the airfield
around 2pm and all but one outlanded.
Today the organisation has called a rest day with
showers and thunderstorms forecast for later in the day.
This year the organisation has changed the start
procedure. Last year we used a 20km line (a different line for each class)
with a height and speed limit. This year in the practice period we had
10km line with a height and speed limit and then on the first contest day
the procedure was changed to 2 minutes below start height immediately
before the start.
Both methods require some effort however the 2
minutes rule with a line produces much more traffic and huge gaggles.
In Australia we are looking to introduce energy
limited starts in order to negate the possible launch order advantage. My
suggestion to the NCC at this time would be to consider leaving Australia
with the multiple start points as we have now with unlimited height and
speed starts, however require all pilots to log 2 minutes below a
nominated height after the start gate is opened. The height would need to
be low enough to ensure the last pilot launched can reach it before the
gate is opened.
In Australia we tend to fly as individuals. My
observation is that in Worlds there is a huge herd mentality and it is not
that any individual pilot flies better than the next; it is more a matter
of who has mastered the art of using everyone else to their advantage. The
line start principle does not separate the individual pilots so they all
hang around in huge packs looking for a tactical advantage over each
other. They are willing to wait until it is impossible to complete the
task, knowing that they will be no better or worse off as everyone will
get more or less the same result. This is particularly evident on blue
days such as yesterday.
Graham 6 August
Somewhat disappointing day yesterday. We still had
the 25-30kt winds which persisted all day and with a 420km task it
definitely wasn’t easy. I think we started a bit too early; we managed to
get into a bit of strife on the first into wind leg; not what you really
want with these sort of winds. In the end nearly the entire gaggle which
started 30-40 minutes later picked up 10 or 15 minutes on us.
Today
the winds look to have abated but there will be different challenges as
thick cirrus is already rolling in from the west. Flying here makes you
appreciate just how fortunate we are for gliding conditions in Australia.
We have been here for over three weeks and in that time we have probably
had only two days that I would describe “good” by Aussie standards. The
Europeans of course have been weaned on this sort of stuff, so we have to
learn to adapt fairly quickly
Tuesday, 5 August 2008
David
What can you say after a day like this? Winds
topping 25kts and a very slow start to the day! I was having trouble even
getting to start altitude and was still low when the gate opened.
Graham and I left around 1300 and had a
reasonable run getting separated on the first leg and then back together
by the second turn. We were again separated when Graham was scrapped off
the bottom of the gaggle on the way home.
I followed George Thesinger home and witnessed a
superb display of flying and task management.
I was first home and feeling pretty pleased with
the day until I discovered that the main pack had left 30 minutes after
us. Initially I was in 5th place however very quickly slipped
down the list and the main packed finished in better time. There just
seems no way to be able to achieve a good result unless you fly with the
group!! Disappointed to be blasted out of the water however pleased to be
home safe! Another day tomorrow...
Monday, 4 August 2008
David
I had a quick word with Karl Striedieck this
morning and asked him if he went round with the 15m gaggle yesterday. He
responded “Yes, why think it only weakens the team!”
Graham and I took that advice today and spent
most of the first two legs with about 30 other gliders in each thermal. It
was damned scary until the class began to split about an hour into the 2
hour AAT.
Graham and I were the last gliders in the last
class to be launched and we were lucky that the conditions had recycled
again by the time we got in the air. It was blowing 20-30kts on the ground
and 35kts at task altitude. The gate height limit was 3,900’ and maximum
height today was only 6,000’ midway through the task.
We kept up well and rolled the leaders
approaching the second turnpoint. This put us in front however I’d been
luckier with the air and Graham was 1,000’ below me as we headed into the
downwind leg. By the last turn Graham was back to within 600’ however we
had to separate. I ran back into wind before turning for home and Graham
went directly cross wind. At the finish he was less than a minute behind
me having found good air on the way home and thus making up the gap
between us. I was concerned when we split but it was great to see him
right on my tail at the finish.
George Thesinger (one of the hot favourites)
outlanded and hit a deer shortly after the start. His glider has been
replaced as the deer was hidden in the grass and thus the damages is
deemed not to be the pilots fault!. It’s anybody’s game for the time
being....
Graham 5 August
Against the odds we managed to get a task in
yesterday. A front moved through with lots of rain, leaving behind it
reasonable thermals but with areas of overdevelopment and very strong
winds. David and I were at the very back of the grid and things didn’t
look too good at launch time with, once again, lots of 18m gliders
flopping down on the airfield while our class was being launched.
Once
launched we both managed to get away without too much trouble. It was
obviously another very dangerous day so we were fairly cautious, stayed
high and mostly out of trouble. We got separated near the last turn and
made our way home separately, still managing to finish within a couple of
minutes of each other. We are quite happy to have survived these first two
very difficult days without any scoring disasters. Many very good pilots
in this competition haven’t been so lucky.
John.
At the Kentucky practice week Lisa Trotter set
us “scenarios” where we had to deal with problems and situations designed
to put us off. 29E was to be last launched, 5k downwind of the airfield,
25k from the start line in 25 kt headwinds in weak overcast conditions and
a 20 min gate opening from my ground roll. The day was forecast to last
only till 1700 local time and a 317km task bound to take more than 3hrs.
On the grid we tried the engine
extension. No luck. A steward was required to seal the engine bay and
through perseverance Gabby found one. Then, as I am sitting in the cockpit
for launch, and open class was relighting, Brett found the TE didn’t work.
We had someone else replace the probe and test it but forgot to re-connect
the tubing.
After start, heading into wind, the
clouds stopped within 20 km and so did the lift. I went under a few
gliders but no climb so started to the turn slow and low before turning
all alone, at right angles cross wind to some dying Cu 15 to 29 k away. At
about 1200 agl I found 4kts and climbed to cloudbase at 4600ft, dribbled
under some dying Cu into wind until 38 k from the tpt - as I was before
but now crosswind. A 65kt cruise to the turn got me around at 1500 ft and
over a couple of outlanded gliders to 0.2kt climb for 300 ft. And so I
went dribbling downwind low looking for the sun spots and not so much the
track. 50k out of the 1st turn and after what seemed like an
hour of groveling I climbed in 2 kts which built to 3 kts as I was joined
by a gaggle?!! So clearly convinced that they had started ½ an hour or
more after me and that the day for me was one of survival, I stayed with
the gaggle as we hopped now from the rare odd Cu wisp that formed. Around
the second turn I climbed up the side of a cloud for a few hundred feet to
glide into the gloom once more. 40km further along and around the turn
were a few sunspots that got us home.
Dejection, disappointment and despair turned into disbelief as Gabby and
Brett tried to convince me that I had done well. The day was devalued to
550 pts due to the number of pilots that did not make the 100km scoring
distance. We managed 542 pts for equal 3rd but feel for the
cruel misfortunes of some, whilst aware that it’s a long comp. anyway
4 August
Graham
Yesterday was contest day 1. Typically it was a day
fraught with danger; there were any number of chances of ruining the comp
from the very start. At launch time the sky was overdeveloped, with large
dead patches making it difficult to stay airborne near the airfield. In
fact the 15m class launch was put on hold for a while as the 18m gliders
were flopping back on the runway as fast as they could be thrown into the
sky.
This was to be the pattern for the rest of the day
after we were launched; the idea was to keep flying and work out a route
into the circles and out to the next area of convection. Results for us
were a bit irrelevant. The main aim was to avoid a disaster and David and
I were happy enough just to get around. There is still a long way to go.
We are all thrilled with John’s performance
yesterday. He was one of only a dozen or so to get round in 18m class; a
tremendous fighting effort in very difficult conditions.
Today there is heavy overcast and rain. A task looks
doubtful but you never know around here.
Sunday, 3 August 2008
David
A tricky first day for the contest with low
cloud, strong winds and rapid thermal cycling with large areas of
overdevelopment to contend with! The 15m launch was held for 10 minutes
while the 18m gliders were re-lighting and going for a second time. I
landed a 4 knot climb right off the tug whilst Graham had to contend with
1.5 knots for some time before getting to altitude.
We decided to be conservative from the outset as
just getting home today was essential and everything else would be a
bonus. There were a number of notable outlands in the 18m class including
Wolfgang Janowitsch and the Britz. I’m not sure of the tally in the 15m
class.
We pretty much did our own thing (for better or
worse) and didn’t see much of the other guys most of the day. The rest of
the 15m class that completed the task did so as one or two rather large
gaggles. We were pleased not to be part of it however it may have been to
our detriment but we hope not too much?
David 1 August 2008
Last practice day before the opening briefing
tomorrow followed by the official opening ceremony in Belzig town square
at 4pm.
This was a no-fly day for me as it gave Lesley
and I an opportunity to tidy up some final domestics and do a polish and
re-tape of the glider. At this stage I’d have to say we are about as ready
as we could be so from here-on in its competition time.
Thank you to all those that have sent us well
wishes we really appreciate the support from back home as well as other
parts of the globe.
Tonight we had a weather change with lots of rain
and cooler conditions expected for the next couple of days.
Graham 1st August
Today is the last practice day, but showers,
thunderstorms and possible hail are forecast for the afternoon so we may
just end up putting the gliders in their trailers.
Yesterday was a good day. David and I were stuck at
the back of the grid and started our task an hour later than we would have
chosen but despite that we still managed 133kph around our 2.5hr AAT.
Equal 5th fastest for the day and we are happy enough with the
way our teamwork is progressing.
Tomorrow is opening ceremony, so no flying tomorrow,
then into it on Sunday. The gliders are all polished and tuned; they are
looking and flying just great.
Thursday, 31 July 2008
David
Today we did a 2.5hr AAT at 133kph. The total
task time for Graham and I was 2:30:21 exactly for both pilots. There is a
slight difference in the speed due to slightly different task lengths
however we are both very happy with today’s flight.
We had chosen a start time at our post briefing
meeting however we were still on the grid at that time and were unable to
start until nearly an hour later. As it was a practice day there was no
grid order and the start gate opened 20 minutes after the first glider
launched. Interestingly the fastest speed in the 15m class was flown by a
pilot who started within 3 minutes of our chosen time....
Graham and I managed 5th/6th
for the day with a 1 point difference in scores.
This is a great confidence booster for both of us
and puts us both in a great frame of mind for the beginning of the
competition next week.
Graham’s glider performed noticeably better today
so I have a little work to do and they should again be equivalent.
This evening the British, Italian and Dutch teams
combined their already considerable resources to host a team party prior
to the competition. They provided a selection of cheeses, Parma ham, cold
sausage slice, wine, beer, bitterballs, hearing, breads and sweet treats
to successfully cater for over 500 people.
Tuesday, 29 July 2008
David
Today was the first unofficial practice day. There
was an introductory briefing and all 3 classes were set the same 3 hour
AAT. Gridding was in no particular order and the gate opened 20 minutes
after the first launch.
Graham and I decided from the outset to do the
minimum distance (as we are conserving our efforts) so launched 2/3rd
of the way through the proceedings.
As we had decided to fly a fixed task our track
took us away from the better air and we ended up with a long glide from
7,000’ to 700’agl. This was not the relaxing day we had hoped for.... We
crawled away slowly and eventually came home to discover all the drama
that had happened back at the airfield.
Germany is in the midst of the summer harvest and
the crop next to the airfield caught fire!! (We presume from the machinery
working in the field.)
I’m sure Lesley will cover this in her report on
the web and include some interesting pictures..
Maximum height today was near 8,000’ with some
good 8kt thermals to be had.
28 July 2008
David
Mark removed the motor in 32 minutes so I now have
a pure glider again. After that it was off the scrutineering and then the
glider was tied down for the day as the whole team took a break from
flying.
That doesn’t mean the work stopped. For me it was
a complete makeover of the web site so that more immediate updates can now
be published directly to the home page.
For Mark and Graham there was the sourcing of gear
for the aerial rig at the team container and then the assembly of same. A
bunch of gear was also collected from the Italians courtesy of the Rieti
team. Most of it can be put to good use during the events here...
We have a pretty solid internet LAN connection
into the container so apart from the occasional outages in this early
stage we should be able to keep the web site up to date in almost real
time..
Stay tuned....
28th July
John and Brett
Preparation at Reinsdorf – Team Buchanan
After collecting the ASG29E from the Schleicher Factory,
we proceeded by road to Reinsdorf, a small airport in the vicinity of Luesse and
well positioned for training in Germany’s famed ‘sailplane racetrack’.
The Demonstrator ’29
and her pilot
As we entered the Reinsdorf strip we were greeted by our
first taste of East Germany’s stoic Russian past, an Antonov 2 biplane, and a
behemoth of a bygone era. It dwarfed all man and machinery, 1,000 horses of
radial grunt resplendent in camo green and adorned with feminine fatale nose
art. Owned by the airport manager for the past twenty years, it’s ruggedness
belied a workhorse that was capable of launching seven gliders, at the same
time!
The Demonstrator ’29
and her pilot
As we entered the Reinsdorf strip we were greeted by our
first taste of East Germany’s stoic Russian past, an Antonov 2 biplane, and a
behemoth of a bygone era. It dwarfed all man and machinery, 1,000 horses of
radial grunt resplendent in camo green and adorned with feminine fatale nose
art. Owned by the airport manager for the past twenty years, it’s ruggedness
belied a workhorse that was capable of launching seven gliders, at the same
time!
How to remove a BIG Antonov
Other influences of Russia included Zlins, Yaks and the
gliding club’s Wilga tug. However on closer inspection, the airport was also
home to an eclectic collection of aircraft that included, motorgliders, Pitts
Specials, modern light aircraft and high performance sailplanes.
The prompt and fashionable grasshopper – Mr Wilga
Our initial preparation seemed more involved than David
and Graham who had shipped their gliders from Oz. Our glider was the ’29
demonstrator that was kindly lent to us by Uli Kremer from Schleichers. Borrowed
gliders can require more preparation to enable the pilot to feel more at home in
the ‘office’. We were fortunate Uli and the factory’s thoroughness and attention
to detail resulted in a highly tuned glider. The fitting of suitable instruments
seemed our only hurdle prior to competition training.
Sunday, 27 July 2008
David
Up to 7,000’ today and quickly
around a 250km fixed task at 120kph. A great confidence builder for both
of us! One of the Dutch team was on the airfield early with me this
morning and came up with a suggestion and some help with the bug wipers.
He used a “Tesa film” tape (which is very thin) on either side of my wing
join tape followed up with a coating of Silicone (on the tape only).
The bug wipers worked perfectly
today for the first time so I’m very happy with this result. I am planning
on removing the motor tomorrow so I’ll be a pure glider from now on!!
29 July
Graham
Starting to get to the pointy end of the trip. We are
now settled in at Lusse, the accommodation is great, I can now get
reliable internet connection and the weather has been on the improve.
Although how long that lasts is anybody’s guess.
Yesterday Mark and I embarked on a weight reduction
exercise for the glider and after an hour or so about 30kg of metal was
lying on the grass.
Dismantling
Then David and I went flying in nice conditions, but
as it was a bit late in the day we only set a modest 250km fixed task. We
zipped round at 120kph, then I re-ballasted and went to the aircraft
scrutinizing station. Meanwhile Daryl had taken all the paperwork for
pilot registration and pay money for aerotows. 50€ a pop if you don’t
mind! All was OK, so TF is now good to go!
After a busy day it was time for a bit of relaxation.
Today looks OK but we’ve now flown 6 days in a row so maybe a rest day
today.
At the local pizza bar |
2008
AUSTRALIAN GLIDING TEAM
