scard

scard

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This morning's mission was another RV adventure as usual. I took the week off of "real" work to tinker with the RV8 project, and Tanya took Friday off. So we launched into solid IFR from home to just south of Dallas (Texas that is for those that don't know) to Midway Regional. I shot the approach from the south, circle to land R18. Yeah, bases were up to the magic 2000' agl by the time we touched down. What is so "magic" about 2000', well, that was our metric for making the trip. After all we were here to start training for our glider ratings! (one Commercial, one Private) Oooohhhhh, a new challenge. The RV is the perfect commute vehicle for this endeavor. We tucked 22C into its chocks and proceeded to endure a couple of hours of "ground school". Then we got to go see a glider for the first time EVER. Shortly after that we got to go fly a Grob 103! For you hard core RV pilots, this is two seat, tandem with NO engine on it. VFR only. The entire instrument panel was an airspeed indicator, an altimeter, a wet compass, and this foreign instrument called a total energy variometer. I had never heard of such a thing only a few days ago. In a glider, it seems to be very useful, like a super sensitive VSI that compensates for airspeed changes. Ok, I'm playing dumb, but really, this is new stuff to me :). We each got three tows up to 3K'. I call it "loose formation on a rope." Very cool stuff. We have lots to learn, but it is going to be fun. Once done for the day we hopped back into the RV9A for the 45min. flight back home. Sandwich service on top in cruise as usual. We'll be ready for when Dick gets that motor glider done and packaged up in a nice pretty Van's aircraft box ready for delivery :).
Tomorrow, Saturday is already scheduled up for at least an hour of four ship local formation practice, lunch, then back to fly gliders in the afternoon. It should be at least a 10hr day of airplanes. Life is good when you can fly.
 
glider time

I have never done the glider thing, but it would have to make you a better pilot. What an adventure. Have fun and I will be interested in how things compare and contrast with the 9. At the very least, it could keep you from freaking out if the prop stops turning.
Have fun!
 
Try this on for size: you are good-to-go for "the impossible turn" at only 200'!!! Wait a minute, hold the phone, .... No kiddin' Still blowing my mind.
 
someday

I am up to the top of my wallet with this build, but someday Im going to have to try out a glider. I know they have several places on the front range near Denver that offer glider rides and training. Full turn at 200'. That sounds fun.
 
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I watched your tracker and could not even think what you guys went for. Gliding huh? Sounds like fun. The other day I took one of our top CFI in my 9 for gliding practices. She GLIDES too :eek: :D
 
Vlad said:
I watched your tracker and could not even think what you guys went for. Gliding huh? Sounds like fun. The other day I took one of our top CFI in my 9 for gliding practices. She GLIDES too :eek: :D
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Yeah, I'm totally envisioning some high Texas summer thermaling in the -9 now :) We'll see. Tanya and I are still debriefing our unique experiences within the same few hours. I'm sure tomorrow will bring another new adventure and revelation or two. Stay tuned! RV related of course.
 
scard said:
Try this on for size: you are good-to-go for "the impossible turn" at only 200'!!! Wait a minute, hold the phone, .... No kiddin' Still blowing my mind.
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And with a good enough towplane you're above 200' well before the upwind threshold too.

Get yourself out to Minden and go wave flying. Make sure you have plenty of O2, there's not much air at FL180.

- mark
 
scard said:
Try this on for size: you are good-to-go for "the impossible turn" at only 200'!!! Wait a minute, hold the phone, .... No kiddin' Still blowing my mind.
Click to expand...

Simulated rope break, and takeoff turnback was the last thing I did prior to my glider solo.

Of course, I did it a few:rolleyes: times prior during my training.
 
Mike S said:
Simulated rope break, and takeoff turnback was the last thing I did prior to my glider solo.
Of course, I did it a few:rolleyes: times prior during my training.
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I learned to fly gliders on a winch. On the day that I went solo I had 9 flights, 7 of which were simulated cable breaks.

Easy to practice when launches are only five bucks each.

- mark
 
YEP!

Mike S said:
Simulated rope break, and takeoff turnback was the last thing I did prior to my glider solo.

Of course, I did it a few:rolleyes: times prior during my training.
Click to expand...

Gets your attention the first time!
 
On my first glider lesson, in a Blanik, I caught a thermal and pegged the VSI. The instructor was almost as excited as I was. :D I had to break out because we were being sucked toward the bottom of a cumulus cloud. The one hour was over way too soon. Some months later conditions were completely different-practically no lift. I have two official hours in my log book. I did share expenses (no time logged) with a friend in California in a Grob 103. Great fun! I would love to add a Glider rating.
 
Soaring is way too much fun! My longest was 3.5 hours in a blanik with thermals up to 9k. I had to land because I was super thirsty and my arm was tired from all the turning. Don't ever go up without water and a pb&j because you just never know if it's going to be one of those days.
 
Great.

Good on both of you Scott! I got my commercial in a Schweitzer (sp?) 232 many years ago. Yeah, that simulated rope break and turnback is amazing...and also the grounds for my other thread about RV turnbacks.

Enjoy,
 
The RV9A made for another GREAT day of flying! We made our 10:30am brief at the airport only via "divide and conquer" for our five ship formation practice. I walked to the brief point on the airport while Tanya wiped the remaining bugs off of the airplane from yesterday, pre-flighted, and delivered it to the staging ramp. "Scoot, where is your airplane? It will be here momentarily of course, lets get on with the brief." As I handed out fresh bunny shaped brownies to the flight as instructed :). So, we flew a good solid one hour five ship show practice. I'm ready to thumb wrestle anybody, any time, that says an RV9 doesn't make for a good (maybe not the best) formation ship! I think the fact that it is only "good", creates a "very good" formation pilot, and proudly wear that as a badge. Yippe, skippy, the morning air was perfect and the practice was safe and successful. We recovered and got to ding lead on a minor thing or two, wow, this day is just getting better and better :). We put away the airplane for just a little while and got some lunch, then right back to the airport for the 45min run to the glider field in the Dallas area. Today's weather, being a little later in the day, was much better and close, but not quite clear and a million. "Midway traffic, RV 22C is entering a left downwind for Runway 18, glider in tow traffic to the south east in sight, Midway." Zoommmm, feels good. This is about 2:45pm. Just late enough to burn off the morning crud and put a little warmth in the ground. However it was obvious to these newly minted glider pilots that there was a clear cap on the atmosphere at about 3400'.

We did an hour of "ground school" where I did a better job of keeping the instructor focused on the task at hand and reducing the number of anecdotal stories that I was paying for... We're entertaining the idea of a switch. Anyway, I was first to fly today, with an agreed three tows or 5:15pm for the swap to Tanya's turn. Pre-flight, checklist, hookup, ready to go, and we're off! Ohh, Ahh, the controls felt a little more familiar today. On these things, the control inputs are super delayed compared to what we're used to. It kinda' reminds me of sailing a big sailboat. I tried setting the altimeter at 0' at the airport today, since yesterday I was still of the opinion that such a thing was absurd. I liked it better today, set at 0', mainly for emergency planning and... all kinds of reasons. Today I improved my situational awareness (where is the airport) while flying the airplane, and my landings improved significantly. Finding a little area of lift, if only to keep you in the air with no altitude loss is super addictive! I have to stop there, but Tanya has something to say about Spoilers on a Grob. She describes them as evil, and I tend to agree. I'll try to convince her to finish the story of all the things that are wrong with spoilers and how Van's should fix it, and the commute home.
 
Sounds like you're flying with Carol Walker or one of her instructors. I did my first few hours in that Grob and soloed in it too. Silvia, my instructor (now a CFI for Uncle Sam in helicopters) pulled the release at 250' on my third flight, thereby starting the most awesome 30 seconds in flying. Wait til you spin the Grob, the spin entry is quite ... entertaining :D

Glad you're enjoying it. Please come by TSA sometime (TA11) to see a club operation.

TODR
 
Spoilers are Evil

Spoilers are most certainly pure evil, at least on the Grob 103 we are flying for our training. Theoretically, you can position them anywhere from 0-100% deployed to manage descent rate on the approach. Practically, there are 3 settings - 0%, catch the explosion after deployment somewhere between 0-100% but it is never the same place twice, and 100%. Once you move them from their locked position, they want to fully deploy, instantaneously. Trying to make a slight adjustment on those things is like trying to catch a falling knife, pretty much impossible without inflicting an adverse effect.

So, for those of you versed in gliders, what should I be flying? Certainly, somebody has solved this.

OK, Mr. VanGrunsven, when you get ready to start selling motorglider RV kits I have a request. Give us something, anything, to manage these evil devices. How about a few notched settings, or maybe a geared deployment mechanism, or even just a restrictor on the movement so that it takes actual muscle movement for things to adjust and not just a finger twitch.

The commute home was smooth as silk at 4500. The atmosphere down here is at full throttle to HAZE. Scott pushed the trottle forward to "I'm pooped - get me home" setting and called Waco approach for flight following. With the sun setting and the haze setting on 'soup', it is nice to have another set of eyes. We got home and found a very hungry beagle hound since it was 3 hours past dinnertime.
 
Glad to see we are getting more converts to the "Silent Service" Scott and Tanya - it is a lot of fun! We're going to end up living just one little ridge away from Minden - room fora sailplane or motor glider is almost a given when it comes to our hangar design.

On my check ride, we caught some nice thermals, and the examiner told me to enjoy - she didn't have anything else on the schedule, and she knew I was headed home the next day, so she was happy to ride along while I played with my new-found skills.

Paul
 
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Spoilers

There are a few gliders that have 90 degree flaps and no spoilers for glide path control. All the HP series, PIK 20b, and a few others I can't think of now. I fly a PIK and like the flaps a lot, but they do take some getting use to.
 
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