Today we moved the big tent from the swimming pool and repositioned it within the designated Aussie area. It did take a fair amount of time and effort to move all the junk/ contents of the tent but eventually we got there and now I can sit down and actually write this in some shade next to the tent which is quite nice. (Because it is really sunny over here and I actually got a little sunburned today)
We had watered the glider earlier in the morning and she was all ready to go, so after the move we towed her out to grid. There are many more competitors here now and more standard class gliders which meant that the bigger tow plane was actually already out there launching! Not waiting for the right plane was quite a change. Today I flew with 160L of water, 12L under maximum. I found that I was thermalling much better but I think that that is more from the time on type. During the day the conditions had improved and turned out to be the highest and strongest day I've had here. My high point was around 6500' and I had a climb that was getting close to 6kts top to bottom. I'm starting to feel much more confident with the glider and flying it heavier. In the cruise it is just a rocket! It does take a very long time to dump all that water for landing and I have found that I have been landing with still quite a lot of water. Depending on the final glide speed, it looks like ill have to start dumping from around 10km out.
You can have a look at my flight for yourself on skylines (https://www.skylines-project.org/flights/pilot/1532) I wanted to start to get into racing mode and not just bumble around the sky again. So I kept it short and to the point with an out and return of around 150km and with a proper final glide for landing. I'm still not used to the much shallower final glide of this machine and I cant quite bring myself to trust the numbers, but that will all come in the next week. Could you please analyse my stats thanks Dad, (Papa Charlie coach and crew by international correspondence) and have them on my desk by Monday morning, thanks.
The flight felt like a start. I now need to build up from there, pick up the pace and start racing!
After action critique and briefing memo delivered to your inbox in time for breakfast as ordered, Sir! ;-)
ReplyDeleteHave fun, stay safe.
G'day Eric, glad you like the 28! I dump at 20km on a fast final glide, though you can land full if needed, ,from memory Leszno has plenty of room! my advice would be launch full, or within 20 kg, (unless poor forecast) but be prepared to dump down if needed. In the glide you should beat everyone! Have fun! - Tom
ReplyDeleteI've been playing around with all of that. Today was a bit stronger and I was full up for the whole flight; It really does GO! Not very fun on tow with the small Ailerons though but I'll get used to that. After I landed we roughly measured the remaining water in the dropped wing with a bucket and we recon there was around 70L total; so that was alright from an 8km dump.. I think that I will Launch full and dump if required. I am finding that my thermalling with the glider and fully loaded has improved significantly.
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