Exadios

Article here.

ASH30 maiden flight.

The controllers should, as soon as they become aware of the emergency situation, attempt to clear the airspace. You, as the pilot who has declared the emergency, will be chiefly concerned about the location of other aircraft - most importantly those aircraft which may be immediately intending to land on the runway. For that reason you may pick a taxi way to land on or even the "runway strip" which is between the pavement and the square markers.

This situation sounds a little contrived. In any case you should always land at an airport in an emergency if possible. The procedure I would use would be to visually check the runway, declare an emergency and your intention land on the runway. Any planes that are already on a straight in approach can go around etc. But even if you cannot use a runway for any reason then it is still better to land at the airport than anywhere else. The thing about airports is that there are plenty of places to land a light plane other than runways. The advantage of airports is that the emergency services are already there. Landing on a city road is, IMO, not an option. For one thing is that there is too much "furniture" around roads and there are also lots of third parties who may be injured or killed.

There are actually two memberships you must get: A club membership and a GFA membership. For GFA memberships see the GFA membership page. I know at our club we have done 1 month and 3 month for high school students and overseas visitors etc. I would be surprised if Victoarian clubs did not have a similar facility. To work out the club membership cost we just compute a prorata value. If I undestand your post correctly you just want to go for one weekend. In that case I doubt that you will get that much out of it. A good guess is that you will get about 6 flights in a weekend. It takes about 4 flights just to learn how not to collide with the tug. With a winch it takes a few more to learn how not to collide with the ground. And, I would guess, that in your first six flights you would only do the last 2 yourself. Most clubs like to teach "upper air" work first - handling and spins etc - and then circuits last. However, with your experience that may not be the case. See how you go.

There has been a glider accident at Gympie. No serious immediate injuries.

I think that you've misread the article. The difference between a glider flight and, for instance, a SLA flight is the increased amount of turning done during the former. I think that is why the article claims that flying gliders is the best way to maintain stick-and-rudder skills.

Results are here.

An interesting article about gliding in China. It includes such nuggets as: "Why would a country want to promote gliding? There are several reasons, but mostly because it attracts, fosters and trains a generation of better pilots, whose value is becoming increasingly evident, especially in Asia and even more so in China. Aviation safety experts denounce the erosion of stick-and-rudder skills among airline pilots, but just like sailing shapes better seamen (who then become more in-tune with their environment), gliding provides unparalleled experiences to future professional pilots." How true.

Not really. Go rounds are fun for neither the passenger or the airline company. For the passenger it means delays and missed connections and for the airline it converts are barely viable business model into an nonviable one.

Actually, the article starts with the statement, "A new study has found clouds left behind by aeroplanes [sic] are causing more global warming than the carbon dioxide they release." That is, both the the contrail and the CO_2 are airplane emissions. In fact, when you read further on, you will discover the aircraft emissions cause over twice the short term global warming (28mW/M^2 + 31mW/M^2) when considering both the emissions. However, the water comes out of suspension relatively quickly and the long term global warming is a result of the CO_2 emissions.

The qualifying GP results are here.

Yes, as I understand it, there are only two people. But, as I suggested before, it would be better for you to contact WAGA. They are the authoritative source in this regard and my information may be out of date.

Sadly Hilmer Geissler died on Wed, March / 09. Those of you who glide in WA may know Hilmer. The funeral announcement is: "Hilmer's funeral is scheduled to take place in the West Chapel at Fremantle Cemetery at 11:00 AM on Tuesday 15th of March; the cemetery is on the corner of Leach Highway & Carrington Street and the entrance is off Carrington Street."

That one guy with the J230 was Hilmer Geissler. Unfortunately Hilmer died last Wednesday (March / 09). If anybody who knew Hilmer and wishes to attend the funeral announcement is: "Hilmer's funeral is scheduled to take place in the West Chapel at Fremantle Cemetery at 11:00 AM on Tuesday 15th of March; the cemetery is on the corner of Leach Highway & Carrington Street and the entrance is off Carrington Street." Hilmer did tow some singles a few times. The J230 was just powerfull enough with a decent runway. It would not tow a dual though. There are two people in WA that can endorse a license (PPL or CPL) for towing. I have the names but rather than me giving them out it is better if you contact WAGA. If you have not yet done so you should read the [/url]Aerotowing Manual.

There is an article in the March Gilding International titled "Kazakhstan - Where the Blaniks are still flying!" So, all you Blanik owners - you know where you can go :big_grin: (Just kidding.)

Article.

An article about gliders and eagles, etc.

Article about the Victoria Gliding Championship.

An article about the storm. I'm not sure that the residents of FNQ will agree with the headline, "Storm worse than cyclone".

Article here.

Very nice landing. I'm not impressed with all the people standing at the side of the runway though. If any thing went wrong they would have no place to go.

Being bored one day Beverly pilots decide to try flying their glider trailers. The results were not pretty. :big_grin: Seriously, a storm came down through Geralton, Toodyay, York and Northam and finally hit the Beverly Gliding Club. There was also some damage at the Narrogin Gliding Club but not as bad.

Yeah. He and GAH where probably in the same paddock. :)

Daily results are here.