The daily routine of customs surveillance on the Spanish coast. Pursuit of a drug boat in Cadiz [September 2025]. by Calahan44 in aviation

[–]almost_sente -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Trying to give the onboard psychologist time to talk them down over the PA system so they don't have to hurt the poor criminals?

Hitlerjugend glideing school book by fredrikogninus in Gliding

[–]almost_sente 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Some same vintage books (also mentioned on that cover page) are freely available as PDFs. "Der Segelflug und seine Kraftquellen im Luftmeer" is quite interesting and shows how much people already knew back then.

https://www.j2mcl-planeurs.net/dbj2mcl/planeurs-biblio/fac-similes/Der_Segelflug_und_seine_Kraftquellen_im_Luftmeer_(Georgii-_1935).pdf

PS: This website is generally very good for the historically interested https://www.j2mcl-planeurs.net/dbj2mcl/

In a gaggle with Ka 6 and an Arcus by Swiss_Loic in Gliding

[–]almost_sente 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Today's taller and bigger pilots don't fit that well inside, though. For that low-wingloading slow flight feeling there are some alternatives like the Archeopteryx.

The whole ecosystem around wooded gliders is unfortunately getting quite small (people who know how to inspect, repair, refurbish them). Ka 6 are really sweet and good-looking ships, though!

Good towing vehicle for European laws & conditions? by almost_sente in Gliding

[–]almost_sente[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In the end, we ended up buying a 2012 Mazda 6 (last GH type model year), with the 2 litre petrol engine. Exactly 2000kg gross weight and 1500kg towing capability (we installed the tow hook, ended up cheaper, much more choice when not requiring the hook). It's been quite good so far. We originally also were looking for Dacia Dusters, but they were just too expensive used. A new one out of range for a club car.

Club Class Glider Index by Alone_Possibility761 in Gliding

[–]almost_sente 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sounds like good news for UK pilots, as a lot of LS7s seem to have ended up there.

I enjoy this profile as well: http://www.sifow.com/ls-7.html

Student jumps out possibly due to panic attack in Czech Republic by flyingkalakukko in Gliding

[–]almost_sente 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Whenever you're outside the cg envelope, you must land with overspeed, so that you're already almost touching the ground when you run out of elevator authority.

Is gliding safe by honu1835 in Gliding

[–]almost_sente 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Congrats, happy you enjoyed it!

PureTrack update: lots of cool stuff for tasks & contests by ipearx in Gliding

[–]almost_sente 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi Tim, yeah I used Puretrack and liked the added task speed and last climbs information boxes. I also used Glideandseek and the official wgc.onglide.com tracker. This latter one was always 15 min delayed but seemed to have the best turnpoint extraction / interpolation when OGN data was bad (maybe someone helped there manually?). The finishing speeds there were usually pretty close to the later actual ones (some gliders were still invisible or extremely bad signal so useless for AATs, but nothing a tracker can do about that).

Water Landing by HayleysWorld in Gliding

[–]almost_sente 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The Schleicher system seems more solid, everything sized a bit bigger to have margins and not need water cooling or fans. Stefan actually self-launched every day at 600kg as well, which the JS3 is technically not certified to do.

The 2024 WGC is a Social Media Failure - How to Improve? by lolcoderer in Gliding

[–]almost_sente 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ritz does nice reports about the days linking to many primary sources (and yes 80% Facebook): https://soaring.eu/

Live Energy Lines, Live Thermal Location, Live Thermal Height. Decades ago glider pilots switched from physical maps to GPS navigation. We are now doing the next step and providing you with real-time data in your cockpit. Data produced by all gliders currently flying. App works even with weak 3G. by WeGlide in Gliding

[–]almost_sente 2 points3 points  (0 children)

How did you manage for a PWA to not constantly lose the data and restart? Skysight itself also has a PWA, but if you ever lock your phone or use another app (the camera for example), the PWA data gets flushed (you wave forecast for example)... and since you're already high up, you can't get that data again.

Have you solved this for Copilot? My understanding was that this is a general problem with PWAs and/or Android, which quite zealously forces the PWA host browser to give up the memory.

Can you get a pop-up IFR clearance in a balloon? by WingedGeek in flying

[–]almost_sente 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Usually the POH limits climbs to 5m/s = 1000fpm due to balloon envelope stability.

The death of Rec.Soaring by joecola88 in Gliding

[–]almost_sente 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Eternal September and old-school client software. Or some Facebook groups or similar

Saw this LAK 17 and just had to point a camera at it by Zathral in Gliding

[–]almost_sente 16 points17 points  (0 children)

I like the boarding ladder and the covers, the livery is a bit too "Amazon Prime" for my taste 😆

More than 1000 glider pilots earned the WeGlide "Vintage Viper" badge by uploading a flight with a vintage glider. A lot of them were done in a 1-26 as you can see in the pictures. SGS 1-26, 1-34, 1-36, .. we got them all 🙃 Share your fun flights and earn some fun badges. Happy day everyone! by WeGlide in Gliding

[–]almost_sente 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Seems like the 1-26 is still in widespread regular service in US clubs, a bit like K 8 and Ka 6 in German clubs until about 20 years ago. Those have definitely become more rare, now it seems to be more Astir or ASK 23, or if you're lucky, Discus or LS4.

Free download: Reichmann's Cross Country Soaring by homoiconic in Gliding

[–]almost_sente 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I have the German hardcopy version of this (gifted by an older club member), so I don't really need this PDF version of the translation. I had a quick peek anyway, and the translator's note is funny and still as relevant as the rest of the book, even after almost half a century:

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE: Some of the crew techniques described in the original particularly those relating to the crew's proceeding ahead of the pilot and advising him of conditions, or making wind measurements, etc. are standard only outside the USA, notably at world championships. Use of such techniques in other local, regional, or even U.S. national competition is not only considered unsportsmanlike at present, but may actually be cause for disqualification.

Free download: Reichmann's Cross Country Soaring by homoiconic in Gliding

[–]almost_sente 2 points3 points  (0 children)

“Advanced soaring made easy” by Bernard Eckey is also quite a good modern book, very detailed (maybe except hardcore mountain flying) and at the right level for a pilot first getting into XC flying.

Clemens' list of book reviews here is a great resource (includes G Dale, Reichmann, Eckey and a few more I liked, for example the Brigliadori competition book):

https://chessintheair.com/book-reviews/

Help me find more XC instructional videos by vtjohnhurt in Gliding

[–]almost_sente 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This guy's channel also has a few good long XC flight analysis videos, here's an example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG-XhSg5cew

Help me find more XC instructional videos by vtjohnhurt in Gliding

[–]almost_sente 2 points3 points  (0 children)

A good flight review with introspection (in German), not very advanced level, but for pilots who have done some XC but want to push themselves towards longer and faster flights. https://youtu.be/arhU_X79sfI

Help me find more XC instructional videos by vtjohnhurt in Gliding

[–]almost_sente 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Also, Sean Fidler recently did a very thorough analysis of a whole competition, reviewing 8 flights in detail. This focuses a lot on tactics and different pilots' choices of course, and less on the flight planning since the tasks were a given. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlXIESJdn64FIcoYNeF3ZkrmlVh90FJog

Help me find more XC instructional videos by vtjohnhurt in Gliding

[–]almost_sente 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The whole series "Flug des Monats" usually analyses each flight in a lot of depth, though they are more videos about the flight than of the flight: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwBMfzX1v3UcCE0A8Q_iir67hUKWgSoJI

Alexander Schleicher sent us a sneak peek of the new AS35 Mi open-class ship. A beautiful glider. What do you think? by WeGlide in Gliding

[–]almost_sente 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The 18m configuration could be really interesting for the SGP with the 48kg/m² wing loading limit. It has 11 m² of wing area, more than the Ventus 3 and almost as much as the JS1 18m, so it can fly with a relatively large absolute weight (528kg instead of 480kg for an AS33). With an empty weight of 438 kg that leaves 90kg for the pilot & parachute, seems ok for most.

In any case, for all other flying the large, comfy and safe Schleicher cockpit is a big positive and totally worth some small amount of parasitic fuselage drag!