AMA NATS: FF Outdoor Glider
Larry Kruse
SPREAD OUT over the week, the Glider events appeared to have every chance of enjoying at least one decent day for flying. Except the best day was Wednesday, and as fate (and random scheduling) would have it, no Glider events were scheduled then.
Beset with rain and shifting winds on Tuesday, A-1 was flown intermittently between showers in the morning with more than one chaser finding himself in need of shelter midway through a retrieve. The technique seemed to be to watch as far upwind as possible in order to pick what looked to be a pocket of rising air coming downwind fast, get the plane up quickly, and pop it off the line. There was very little opportunity for kiting the ships into lift or circle towing. A-1 Towline was a bit like Hand-Launch Glider: pick your air and get up in it before it gets away.
A-1 (Towline / Open)
Due to existing conditions, no one maxed out. However, a good "conditions accepted" contest emerged in Open, with less than 45 seconds separating the top four places.
- Bill Schlarb — 403 seconds (1st)
- Jorge Triana — 399 seconds (2nd)
- Hank Sperzel — 369 seconds (3rd)
- Father Dignan — 362 seconds (4th)
Only one Junior, Rod Joerger, and one Senior, David Brown, entered A-1. That's a real shame. As an entry-level road to FAI competition, A-1 is a good place for a young person to start. The planes are easy and inexpensive to build (no engine cost), relatively easy to get to fly well, and a good steppingstone to other Glider and Power events.
Hand-Launch Glider (HLG)
The other low-cost and seemingly simple event, Hand-Launch Glider, had some of the best participation of any outdoor FF event. This was simply because there was so much less to risk to the southern zephyrs.
Junior HLG results:
- James Buxton — 1st (also won Indoor)
- Don DeLoach — 2nd (uncharacteristic transition problems)
- Troy Chamberlain — 3rd
Senior HLG results:
- Jan Langelius — 1st
- Dave Brown — 2nd
- Brian Spiller — 3rd
Charles Gagliano won Indoor HLG in fine fashion but could not solve the problems presented by the wind outdoors.
A trend toward larger HLG designs, both outdoor and indoor, was noted. Kevin Anderson (Stratford, MO) was third in Open HLG flying his Thermal Tick. Kevin's glider weighed 42 gm and had a pop-up DT system.
The ever-strengthening winds reduced many top Open HLG fliers to the status of participants. Those who flew early in the day seemed to have some advantage, although the event's eventual winner and former National Record holder, Bobby Hanford, chucked a large Full Grunt ship later in the day and managed to snag a little lift. Terry Rimert, guru of Unofficial Events, flew early and finished second. Kevin Anderson, who led off early with a max, had trouble duplicating it and ended up third.
One frustration of HLG, illustrated by Bobby Dunham's experience, was to pick good air (a most difficult task at best), center your HLG in it, and then watch it blow out.
Bruce Kimball's 1987 NFFS Model of the Year, Climb Max, employs a built-up tissue-covered wing structure. An unusual feature is the pop-up wing hinged with plywood aft of the trailing edge. The model weighs a nominal 35 gm and has generous tip dihedral for a smooth roll-out into the glide pattern.
Timer's sight: 89 seconds, still going up as it disappeared from view downwind.
A-2
A-2, flown on Friday, was a continuation of the circumstances experienced in the smaller Glider classes. Bruce Kimball summed it up best when he observed that one of the things he missed seeing was five or six planes in the same thermal, all getting smaller with each turn into the wind. In truth, one thermal could have held all of the A-2s that flew, if it could have been persuaded to hold still long enough. Only five fliers risked their ships in the wind; however, credit certainly must be given to them for doing what they had come to do.
Again, as in A-1, no one maxed out. Andy Barron put up an excellent 792, displaying an uncanny ability to sort out good air from bad as it blew briskly by him. Sandwiched between Chuck Markos and Barron was a relative newcomer, Richard Haas, who appeared to be flying an Ultimate Dragmaster. Chuck Markos finished third after practicing circle towing early in the week. USFFC winner Mike Fandtham put up only one flight before bowing to better judgment and retiring to the sidelines.
It is truly unfortunate that conditions did not permit a fuller contest to develop. The potential for a great event, couched in the names of Crowley, Schlarb, Nippert, and Murphy, was truly gone with the wind.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
