Search Results for : Cumulus

ST. PAUL, MINN — With elections behind us (thankfully!) and strains of the "Little Drummer Boy" already driving us a little crazy, we’re in the Christmas season once again. I wish all of you warm holidays with family and friends. Now, on with news in hang gliding. ••• In recent years and months, the glider building business has been remarkably stable (or is that "quiet?"). Wills Wing continues to display dominance of the U.S. scene and also populates sites in Europe, Japan, and elsewhere. Pacific Airwave holds the second seat securely after recovering from the usual trauma of a move. Downwind from these leaders the field is less distinct. Seedwings labors along with their beautiful machines, albeit in smaller numbers but maintaining a ferociously loyal following. Moyes proved to be an import star in last year’s survey and we’ll soon see if the new one you received last month shows a continued success.

OSHKOSH, WISC. — In a different location this month, "Product Lines" comes from the headquarters of the EAA or Experimental Aircraft Association, the folks who build their own aircraft. The occasion was the assembly of the USHGA Board of Directors Planning Committee. This group of some the industry’s most important leaders gathers with the goal of looking longer range for the health and capabilities of USHGA. It was my pleasure — and honor, I must admit — to keep company and work with this group. • The PlanComm meeting took place at EAA after Executive Director Phil Bachman and I had met with EAA president Tom Poberezny last May. He offered their venue (versus an hotel somewhere) and we jumped at the chance. After Tom addressed the committee on two occasions, most felt satisfied that we had gotten some sound advice. EAA represents 165,000 members, has 145 employees, and an enormously impressive facility which includes a very professionally executed museum.

ST. PAUL, MINN. — Our Just Fly U.S. Nationals are over and I heard little about the influence of the so-called topless gliders. I didn’t think much about this, being unsure if this idea is good design or merely good marketing. ••• However, German team leader Ernst Schneider sent E-mail which suggests that topless acceptance by contest pilots in Europe is much stronger. He writes, "Kingpostless gliders have gained popularity amongst competition pilots in Europe very fast this year and showed very good results at recent competitions." The results he listed put topless gliders in winning positions at the German Open (a Guggenmos "Cut RCS" won, followed by a UP "Speed") and six of the top ten at the German League were topless. Interestingly, though they showed well in the latter meet, the top three were "conventional" hang gliders. ••• In a related item, this German correspondent also states, "Market share of U.S.-built gliders in Europe has decreased significantly during the last years and it rather looks like this will continue." He notes that Americans may regard European gliders as having low standards of quality, safety, and performance, but adds, "…it looks definitely that the U.S.

ST. PAUL, MINN — The 1996 U.S. Hang Gliding National Championships — this year known more briefly by its sponsor name: the Just Fly Nationals — is over. Several tidbits of information resulted from the gathering and good ole, late-breaking "Product Lines" is here to tell you some of them. Since Meet Director, GW Meadows, is a regular Hang Gliding writer, you’ll read a thorough article in a later issue. But as I write this at the end of July, Meadows is presently enroute from the Nats to the giant Oshkosh airshow. He was willing to stop along the way and call in a few stats to my voice mail… so, thanks in part to the layout of this back-of-the-book page, you can read a few essentials now, barely after the meet is over. (As this column was completed, the rest of HG is already done and in final preparation for printing.

ST. PAUL, MINN — Airshow season is here. About the same time we hang glider pilots are heading out to sites across the country to catch the big thermals of summer, millions of non-pilots (and pilots) will attend local-area airshows. They’re America’s second largest public spectator event after baseball, quite a statement in a country known around the globe for having countless choices of entertainment. At how many of those airshows will the millions see hang gliding? Darn few! ••• One man is changing that by succeeding as few before him have done. Dan Buchanan performs despite physical challenges (a vehicle accident if you don’t know Dan’s story). He was able to fly the main airshow at Oshkosh last year, no small feat since the Wisconsin convention is one of the world’s largest events with close to a million people attending. Some pilots have waited literally years to get in, that is, to volunteer to perform; no pay is offered.

ST. PAUL, MINN — About as you’re reading this, the "Umpteenth Annual 4th of July Festival of Foot Launched Flight" in Lakeview, Oregon is about to begin. If you live on the west coast you could read this and still attend, so, consider it a last minute invitation. • July 3-7 are the dates and they promise an interesting roster of activities. A cumulative cross country contest will award a $1,000 cash prize to the winning hang- or para-gliding pilot. Don’t want to hassle with cross country? Try their Trophy Dash, a timed race (Speed Gliding?) good for $100 to the winner. • Or, you can earn your aero tow rating, a mildly ironic sign of the times since the event calls itself "…Foot Launched." Hungry Joe Szalai and Bill Martke of Moyes will bring a Dragonfly tug and will offer aerotow training to pilots who want a break from running off the several mountain launches at Lakeview.

ST. PAUL, MINN — As we circle into the soaring season, I have an eclectic group of topics. But first… ••• Like it or not, it appears some kind of FAA rule change is coming. Our reps to the ARAC group meeting with FAA are Dennis Pagen and Mike Meier, two solid individuals who will present our position well. It’s simply too early in the process to report what’s happening as the game could change following the response FAA requested of the ARAC industry group. Nonetheless, it appears certain that some changes are imminent. If more information is available by next month’s column I’ll provide more on this subject. Meanwhile, back at the grassroots… ••• I’m personally pleased (being financially involved with the project) to report that the Cumulus ultralight motorglider flew. Under development since 1993, the pace quickened in the last half of 1995 and the motorglider flew in March 1996.

ST. PAUL, MINN. — This month is my review of the product-oriented aspects of the USHGA’s annual survey. Since it comes with the ballot, a high percentage are returned. Because of this Yoo-shga enjoys more reliability in its surveying than do most organizations. ••• The overall statistics haven’t have shifted much but a couple surprises do reveal themselves, notably increases in hang gliders flown (relative to paragliders anyway) and more women than ever flying. While more and more leaders are becoming convinced of the need to expand hang gliding, the commercial industry which serves present enthusiasts continues steadily with few changes. ••• One non-product item worthy of note. Our "maturing" sport has now crossed a benchmark line: The average age slipped quietly by the fortysomething figure, coming to rest for 1995 at 40.4, up half a year from last year. Fortunately, personal income also crept up, stopping at an average $51,295 per member.

ST. PAUL, MINN. — Back home in frigid but thawing Minnesota after a temporary warmup in the Sunshine State last month. Halfway in between is a place virtually every hang glider pilot knows: Chattanooga. My former hometown, it was the birthplace of "Product Lines," but these days it’s best known for its major hang gliding enterprise — Lookout Mountain Flight Park, or simply LMFP. ••• Owner and boss, Matt Taber, though well known to most anyone in the sport, is something of an unsung hero. In recent memory surprisingly little has been written about the country’s biggest shop. LMFP is "biggest" by virtue of enrolling more students in the USHGA pilot proficiency program than any other school, a laudable achievement. The Lookout Mountain site is one of the country’s best known flying sites, visited by pilots from all over the USA and the world. You might also call it the biggest shop because Taber owns both launch and landing sites, to include a huge LZ where he is now building cabins for visiting pilots.

ORLANDO, FLORIDA — Escaping Minnesota’s arctic winter for a few days of work in Florida, this column comes to you from the sunshine state where I got a glimpse of a new design in testing. It shows a distinctly American slant… on a new glider design trend that seems to to be showing strength in Europe. ••• What with winglets last year and internal ribs the year before — well, also ram scoops used by at least two builders before that idea lost momentum — the new notion of "toplessness" appears hot as a pistol. French giant La Mouette already has a glider called the Topless, and German leader Bautek has an entry in the topless sweepstakes named the Sunrise. These gliders have no upper rigging whatsoever. La Mouette is advertising "no kingpost and no compression strut." The Dijon, France-based company also boasts a four Gs negative load capability thanks to a carbon spar.