The Oz Report

Chelan Classic Day Two

Belinda captures Wayne Leuth sliding his ixbo through the weeds launching between-the-rocks on Chelan Butte.  Wayne escaped with a skinned knee and flew 65 miles:

With bright and warm days, the Chelan Classic has gotten off to a great start.  No clouds have shown up to provide any guidance out on the flats, but there are still the plentiful dust devils.

With plenty of California pilots, as well as locals, we have a pleasant pilot's meet on the Butte at 11 AM:

Day two started off with northeast winds at the Butte, which usually makes for difficult launch and soaring conditions.  The prevailing winds came up the left side of the east facing Ants-in-the-Pants launch, so this was the site of some early launches.  Pilots would got up from there found lift way off the hill to the south as they drifted to the west.

Paul Gallagher sneaked around the back and took off from the lakeside, which kept experiencing odd thermals.  He got up better than anyone else, so many of us followed him finding lift over the southwest ridge.  I can't remember launch conditions like this in the last 15 years.

With the dust out on the flats laying down from the north (even though the weather forecasts said east), it looked like a difficult day. Since the Classic is scored best 4 days out of 6, this looked like a throw-away day.  Heading south, while quite possible, usually doesn't lead to big mileage.

Thermals out on the flats proved allusive for most pilots. Scott Rutledge on an Exxtacy was skilled enough to be able to make the short triangle, Withrow, Mansfield and back.  Tom Johns on a Wills Wing Fusion did Waterville, Withrow and back.  Paul Gallagher on an Exxtacy did Withrow and back.  All short distances, but great flying on a day that saw many pilots in the soccer field.

I do hope to have results up this morning at http://www.davisstraub.com/chelan.

Dave Sharp hooks power to the ATOS

Dave Sharp writes about his trip to the northeast:

I'm traveling around the country setting up Atos dealers. Right now I'm in Ellenville NY working with Greg Black and a over a half dozen pilots taking the clinic.  The weather gods have not been very kind, lots of wind and rain.  Funny how when the new glider comes to town the drought and heat wave ends and the bad weather kicks in.

Finally we got a break in the weather and on the 3 of July Les towed up over dozen flights on the Atos.  No bent down tubes, and several first time Atos pilots soared in some very light conditions.  Two more Flex pilots were converted and joined the growing world of stiffys :) Everyone was very excited, new tow park, flying the Atos and quick access Ellenville Mountain one of the top mountain sites in the NE.  Thank god for the towing as Ellenville launch was too cross to launch from, and the next few days are forecasting rain.

Mountain wings is located in down town Ellenville, NY, the shop is a fully stocked hang gliding and paragliding school offering full time lessons sales and service.  Greg has invested into a two place Flight Star Utralight, he has a hanger for it that he leases from the city.  Greg just hired Les Taft tug pilot expert to tow up pilots and students 7 days a week.

The Ellenville runway is 4000 feet long and is located at the base of the main ridge.  Dan Spear on his first Atos flight towed up on Gregs stationary winch to 1000 feet and flew across to the soarable ridge that is 1400- 2000 vertical and worked very light thermal lift for 30 minutes.  Greg plans to cut a new road and a new launch.  It will be within easy gliding distance to the airport.

The new tow park is going to offer a lot more air time for pilots in the North East.  Full time Aero Tug Pilot Les Taft also is a excellent mechanic and is very safety conscious.  Mountain wings also offers Aero towing sign offs, lessons, and Ultralight sales.  Paraglidng is also permitted at the Tow park.

Greg also has a few of the new Mosquitos in stock and wanted me to try it out on the Atos.  I decided to give it a whirl

Basically the Mosquito is a powered harness that hooks into most hang gliders with minimum modification to your glider.  The Modifications are limit lines that attached to your side wired junction at the LE, in the case of the Atos the # 4 rib tab worked fine.  Next remove the rear of the keel on the Atos.  The Mosquito weighs 44 pounds without gas or a parachute.  It comes in a large harness bag.

Set up, remove the Mosquito from the bag, flip down the grass hopper legs.  Next attach the limit lines, these keep the prop from swinging into the sail.  Put on the one gallon fuel tank to the upper end of the upright and attach the fuel line.  Flip the stop switch to on, pull the choke on, pull the decompression tab, pull the start a few times, release the choke and our unit started right up.  After a quick warm up turn it off and attach the prop.

Putting on the harness was front entry, I prefer side entry. As I needed a little help.  The Mosquito uses a older style whale back harness entry is from the front and you have to enter it from a 45 degree angle.  Once in fasten a back strap, then zip up the fin behind your neck.  Since the weight of the motor is supported by the grass hopper legs it was not difficult to run.

The Mosquito has a throttle cable that attaches to a mouth clip, this allows the pilot to take off without having to hold something in your hand.  Once airborne you can put the clip in your hand or reach back under the left arm and set the throttle with ten speed bike gear shifter like lever arm.

My two flights were at the Ellensville airport, it was around 85 degrees, and no wind.  I gave the unit full power and held back just to feel the 95 pounds of torque.  It took about 5 quick steps and I was off.  I put the mouth piece in my hand and did a few fly bys.  The legs are attached to the zipper doors so when you close the doors the retractable legs are within reach.  Reach back and pull them flat against your legs and fasten them to the "C" clip.  Cool I felt like I was wearing an aircraft and I re-invented the term "Barn Storming" yeeee haaaa.

I powered up to about 1000 agl, my average climb rate was 325 fpm.  I noticed no P-factor at all I'm not sure if it was because I was flying a non weight shiftable glider.  The harness was uncomfortable in the air but I did have the spread bar too far forward, other wise it seemed find.  The Atos require a bit more high siding than usually other wise if flew great.  I turned the unit off, and found my sink rate in the Atos to be around 225. Restarting was a snap, choke, pull, UN-choke pull again and it started on the first try.  On the second flight the in air start took several tries but started after a cool down period.

For landing, unzip the harness and the legs fall right into place.  The Mosquito I flew had a "prop lock" as you fly though the air with the engine off the prop will spin, increasing the chances of cracking the $450.00 blade on landing.  Locking the prop in the horizontal position will minimize the chances for damage and will offer less drag flying through the air.  I found it slightly hard to rock up, I had to pull up some of my weight, as I came in for final.  On skimming across the ground the delrin legs started skidding, about one-second later it was time for flair.  Four quick steps were necessary but the landing was good.  Since your CG is so far aft your flair authority seems to improve, the fact that the legs take up the weight of the motor helps a lot.

Over all the design of the Mosquito works great, some minor details could be worked out.  On my second flight I found the climb rate to be almost 450 and the power off sink rate was 180 to 200.  The design works great, and I had a blast.  A pilot could easily take off from any old field with a little space and power up and enjoy hours of soaring, especially when attaching the unit to a Atos.  I used only 1/2 gallon of fuel with full throttle for 1/2 hour, the Atos will climb with 1/2 throttle.  This means with full gallon I would expect over 2 hours of climb.  The Mosquito is a going to very competitive with those clip on trikes for soaring purposes.  A couple of pilots from Middletown, NY airport take off cross country for Ellenville (20 miles) and if it's not soarable they return home.  The Mosquito has been fitted to over 20 wings.  Contact Greg to see if your personal wing will work.

For more information contact Greg Black <mtnwings> 

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1999 US World Team

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Davis Straub
co-author of Windows 98 Secrets, and More Windows 98 Secrets, IDG Books
"The Jaws of Life for Windows 98 Users"
<davis>
http://www.davisstraub.com/secrets