Great flying day, frustration found on the ground.

[tonycondon]

Arrived at airport at 7 AM this morning. Found a R22 sitting in the shop getting a Tanis heater installed. One of our mechanics is out at Robinson now getting trained so we can add them to our repair station so there should be at least 2 R22's and an R44 visiting regularly soon. Cool looking little (stress little) bird. Ill have to bum a ride sometime.

Mission today was to count White Tailed Deer. Left Ames at 745, stopped in Boone (BNW) for gas at 8. Then on to Perry (PRO) to pick up the DNR folks. Got ConUS challenge photos for both airports. Deer flying is interesting, but pretty boring. 500-800 AGL over state parks while the people in back count deer. Back and forth, 1/4 mile wide passes. Good for boning up on ground reference maneuvering! Stopped in Atlantic (AIO) for lunch, picked up a third ConUS airport. I have to tell you, the folks at the FBO there were super friendly! I hadnt really packed a lunch, kinda counted on picking up something out of a vending machine. Alas no candy bars available at the airport, but the ma and pa that ran the joint told me to help myself to their food stash and i had a yummy bologna and cheese sandwich and lemon jello pudding. And they didnt charge me anything!

a few more hours of back and forth in the afternoon and I was back in ames about 415. 6.8 hrs on the day.

Got home and learned that it is quite possible that I will not be allowed to compete at the Glider Contest in May. Basically they have so many possible contestants that they will have to weed down the field. The method to do this is to take only "ranked" pilots first from the region, then unranked pilots from the region, then pilots from outside the region. I fall into the unranked pilots from the region category, but most of the contestants in the "Sports" class are ranked pilots from the region. Likely I will get the Axe. Makes me wonder how the hell Im supposed to get ranked (only way to get ranked is to fly in contest). All hope is not lost yet, still have to get ahold of the Contest Manager and see what my odds are. Once again, wind is firmly out of sails Ill have to find out fast what Im going to do. So far my life plans for the first 6 months of this year have revolved around flying in this contest. If it doesnt happen, things will change bigtime.

 

[HPNPilot1200]

Nice pictures, Tony! Sorry to hear about the competition issues. Be optimistic and hope for the best! I'll sure be hoping you're allowed to compete.

Regards,

 

[KennyFlys]

Cool fixed-wing birds... not sure about the one with odd wings. And, who was that strange guy holding some map?

 

[cwyckham]

I fall into the unranked pilots from the region category, but most of the contestants in the "Sports" class are ranked pilots from the region.

Could you change classes and bum a glider from someone? For a first contest, you could do worse than World class if you could borrow a PW5.

 

[tonycondon]

the only class offered in the regional level is Sports

The other two classes are the Open Nationals and 18 meter Nationals. I was getting really excited to be able to watch those guys fly too. at least two Antares 20E Electric Self Launchers are going to be there.

 

[tonycondon]

of course Sports is a loose term. Another source of contest frustration with me. How does a DG-1000 (46:1 two seater supership) qualify for the supposedly "affordable" class. give me a break...

from what I understand, same problem exists with Aerobatic Competitions. Big money guys buy fancypants aerobatic airplanes but cant compete at higher levels due to lack of skill. so they enter "sports" class and drive the little guy out.

 

[cwyckham]

I hope that you impress upon the contest director that it would be extremely short sighted to effectively bar new entrants. That sort of attitude would kill soaring as a sport very quickly.

In most parts of the world they have special programs to bring in more young pilots into the competitions, not discourage them!

 

[CJones]

Dang dude! You covered some territory today. I'm trying to figure out what public lands led you from Perry to Atlantic. Hmmmm.. Oh yeah, and did you get a copy of how many deer were in each area?

We had the cropduster "swath testing" day at Atlantic a few years ago - the guy that owns the FBO there is an old crop duster and actually bought the Cessna Ag Wagon (I think) off of my boss that year. *sigh* Would've been a good plane to learn in. Anywho.. yeah, they're good stuff down there at Atlantic.

Also.. Did you notice how weed-free the fields were around the Perry Airport? Last summer and spring I sprayed the bean fields that border the airport to the south. I think I've already put the dry fertilizer on for this year, though. Anywho.. It looks like a nice, clean, well maintained airport, though I've never actually landed there.

Good luck with the glider contest. I'll admit I'm oblivious when you're talking about the different classes/categories, but from the tidbits I'm gathering, it sounds like you're getting hosed on the deal! Let me know if you want me to go with you to lay the smackdown!

 

[tonycondon]

I hope that you impress upon the contest director that it would be extremely short sighted to effectively bar new entrants. That sort of attitude would kill soaring as a sport very quickly.

I dont blame the contest manager, except that he has promoted the contest to the point of apparent over participation. He is doing a great job of promoting the sport, this contest has turned into a major gliding event. The weather is great that time of the year and the landout options are perfect. Airport is glider friendly, cant ask for much else.

In most parts of the world they have special programs to bring in more young pilots into the competitions, not discourage them!

ug tell me about it. So damn frustrating. first the stupid badge stuff. Paperwork is more work than the flight! Or you can buy this smashbangwhizz datalogger fancypants thingamajig for about 1000 bucks. Thats a quarter of what I paid for my glider AND enclosed trailer!!!!! The whole system is designed as assuming the pilot is guilty of cheating until proven innocent, some confidence! Ive spent hours trying to imagine the ways you could cheat and all are more difficult than actually completing the stupid flight.

Then to fly the contest you have to have a silver badge? what you did over 300 miles of cross country flying last year with 5 landouts in a glider with less than 25:1 performance? no matter. must have stupid badge.

I understand they want to make sure they arent getting brand new cross country pilots flying contests, that obviously would be dangerous. But dang throw in some sort of "discretion of the contest manager" clause or something!

There was one other fellow with a Cherokee II who was thinking about coming to Albert Lea for the contest. Woulda been his first too. We both will likely get the boot now. I was looking forward to having ONE glider that I could at least keep up with. The next highest performing glider above mine was a Ka6E which has got at least 5 L/D points on me. Everything else is well above 30.

My biggest problem is that I got into this sport based on the notion that it is cheaper than flying power. And I intend to keep it that way. Problem is its practically impossible to participate in this kind of event and hold on to that dream. I hope I get the chance to try.

Now I see why I know so many seasoned cross country pilots who dont fly contests. Some of my heroes of the sport are guys like Jim Hard, who recently got the World Distance award in his 1-26. 1-26 is a 23:1 metal glider, a very popular design built by Schweizer. Year before last Jim did TWO Diamond Distance flights (500 kilometers straight out) in one season. In a glider of this magnitude that is just astounding. The guy knows how to make his glider go and the fact that he is flying old low performance puts him high up in my book.

Well anyway, can you tell this whole turn of events has just struck a nerve?

 

[tonycondon]

Dang dude! You covered some territory today. I'm trying to figure out what public lands led you from Perry to Atlantic. Hmmmm.. Oh yeah, and did you get a copy of how many deer were in each area?

there are plenty. lots of canadian geese and turkeys too. shoot away, just send me some meat, im hungry!

We had the cropduster "swath testing" day at Atlantic a few years ago - the guy that owns the FBO there is an old crop duster and actually bought the Cessna Ag Wagon (I think) off of my boss that year. *sigh* Would've been a good plane to learn in. Anywho.. yeah, they're good stuff down there at Atlantic.

yep son has an Ag Cat, dad has the Ag Wagon. Son said if he has a good season hes going to Costa Rica next winter. Apparently he doesnt like our balmy weather.

you're getting hosed

If the chips fall as it seems they will, yes I am, IMO.

Let me know if you want me to go with you to lay the smackdown!

haha we'll see...

 

[Dave Krall CFII]

It seems like the likely winners in any of the classes would want as many reasonably rated glider pilots in the race as possible if only to boost the entry fee takes, or are they more purist than all that earthly stuff?

Best of luck in any event. Maybe you'll have to have your own contest.

 

[tonycondon]

It seems like the likely winners in any of the classes would want as many reasonably rated glider pilots in the race as possible if only to boost the entry fee takes, or are they more purist than all that earthly stuff?

Best of luck in any event. Maybe you'll have to have your own contest.

Winner doesnt get any cash money, so they dont care. I would think they would want more inexperienced guys like me in lousy performing gliders so that they can crush a few more competitors, guaranteed. Whatever.

I toyed with the idea of having my own "crappy glider contest" before I realized that I might be able to fly in the real contest. Only problem I discovered is that it would be tough for me to fly in a contest I organize. Maybe Ill just take that extra week and fly out of Ames and go long distances. Would be a hell of a lot cheaper. At least one other guy in our club was hoping to fly Region 7 but will likely get bumped too. Maybe we can team fly some tasks or something.

 

[tonycondon]

Update - unknown to me, and hopefully not any longer to the local Contest manager, the rules do allow for an inverted field. Or even a partially inverted field where the first X competitors are let in based on an inverted score and then the rest following are allowed in from highest to lowest. X is chosen by the Contest Manager. This gives me a ray of hope. However it also shuts experienced contest pilots out of a competition. We'll see how my contest manager chooses to handle it. Obviously my opinion is biased but it would be nice to see him welcome new contest pilots into the ranks.

 

[wby0nder]

All this gloom and doom about not being able to participate in the contest is based on the POSSIBILITY that there will be too many entrants which is a long shot in my opinion. There is never as many actual entrants as hopefuls so jes suddup an git yur ship together man! What's that story by George Moffett about the guy who had already lost the contest because he was anticipating all the difficulties he was having and going to have the next day?

MM

 

[tonycondon]

I know Matt. Looking at the contestants list, there are 28 spots for Sports Class. Currently there are 12 open spots, assuming all the people who will "probably" compete do so, which I think is likely. I really don't think Paul would've posted on RAS saying that he may be facing an overbooking situation unless he really thought he was going to. I just see no sense in devoting a lot of time and energy this spring into preparing for this contest if Im not going to be allowed to compete because I havent competed in a contest before.

Course I gotta get the stupid Silver Badge anyway...things to do...

 

[cwyckham]

I thought sports class had a handicap system to compensate for "elderly" gliders. Doesn't that mean that you could do ok against the hot ships as long as you actually finish the tasks?

If you assume that there's a decent chance that a spot will open up, then you will spend the spring preparing. Preparing means learning how to do all the paperwork etc. for badge flying (which will be useful for your world record attempts anyways) and becoming a better glider pilot. If the spot isn't there, then you're a better glider pilot and you're ready for the next opportunity.

If you assume there will be no spot, then you'll spend your time doing something useless like honing your already spectacular power flying skills and when a surprise spot opens up you'll hate yourself for not being ready to take it.

I actually think that badge flying is really good. They're really into it here in NZ, and I've seen a lot of people trying to do badge flights recently. It motivates them to push themselves. Nothing wrong with that. Of course, it helps if the club has a gps logger you can borrow. It looked like there was about an hour of paperwork for each qualifying flight. Not so bad, really.

Chris

 

[tonycondon]

yea chris, but the sports class handicap system is flawed.It doesnt factor in the much much larger radius of action that a high performance ship has. That said, I do have a handicap of around 1.5 so If I can make it 2/3 the way around the course I supposed Im doing OK.

I wouldnt say that if I dont go to the contest, I wont be honing my glider skills. Ill still have a good 2 or 3 weeks free between the end of school and the beginning of work. That will be during prime cross country soaring weather.

Im sure the paperwork for badge stuff is not bad with a logger. So far all my flights have been with a barograph. When I did make silver distance or altitude flights, Id have to mail the dumb thing in to get it calibrated, then gather up landing witness statements and god knows what else. I guess it really isnt THAT bad but I pretty much just didnt feel like it. Of course now Im kicking myself as I will need the silver for the contest.

 

[gismo]

Is there any way to compete in another contest (say down south a ways) earlier so you are more qualified?

Also WRT the barologger, the club I used to belong to had one that they "rented" to pilots going for badges. Are there any other rental possibilities for you? If not perhaps you should pool your money with a few other pilots and then rent yours out to recoup the cost.

 

[gismo]

It seems like the likely winners in any of the classes would want as many reasonably rated glider pilots in the race as possible if only to boost the entry fee takes, or are they more purist than all that earthly stuff?

Best of luck in any event. Maybe you'll have to have your own contest.

It's been a long time since I was involved in Soaring, but IIRC there were two pretty distinct groups of experience soaring pilots, one that was very helpful to and tolerant of those who were considerably less experienced and/or skillful and a smaller but noticeable bunch of primadonas who would just as soon ban anyone who didn't have the latest soaring technology and big bucks.

 

[wby0nder]

I know Matt. I just see no sense in devoting a lot of time and energy this spring into preparing for this contest if Im not going to be allowed to compete because I havent competed in a contest before.

The only extra time and energy you'd devote beyond being ready for normal badge and record flights is having your registration in and access to a flight logger! You gotta get ready to fly anyway so what's the big deal? If you end up all dressed up you'll still have somewhere to go. You lose nothing if they don't allow you in the contest. You'll be that much better prepared to grab all the state records back from that jerk, what's his name..? Mack Michealson I think. KICK HIS ASS!

 

[tonycondon]

You'll be that much better prepared to grab all the state records back from that jerk, what's his name..? Mack Michealson I think. KICK HIS ASS!

Yea if I could ever track that guy down....

BTW did we ever get anything in for 2 seat state distance?

News from the Contest Manager. 50/50 chance that the contest will overbook, but he will use the inverted field so highly unlikely I will not be able to get in. Disaster diverted.

Back to work.

 

[gprellwitz]

News from the Contest Manager. 50/50 chance that the contest will overbook, but he will use the inverted field so highly unlikely I will not be able to get in. Disaster diverted.

Great news!