The Project Ornithopter will soon be flapping it’s wings. It’s an aeroplane that flaps it’s wings to generate lift and speed, like a bird.
Check out News.com’s article too
It was no flying for me this weekend, we had the annual pre-christmas party in our club in Vågå. It was fun with around 25 pilots there, lots of good food and drinks at the hotel.
Frode Halse is the most dedicated PG XC pilot in Norway. His website is updated often and has lots of good content. A few days ago we met and talked about the the possibility to convert it to a dynamic blog using WordPress. It’s some work, but should be doable. Check out the static version at www.fridistanse.no
I talked to the owner of Hay Carvan park where we will stay during the worlds in Australia. It was forecasted 38 degrees, and the cumulus couds were starting to form at 10:30. With weak northerly winds it sounded like a very good day for flying in Hay. He also said it had not rained much the last months.
Last weekend Tor Erik Stranna and I traveled to the Nordic Hang and Paragliding Committee meeting, in Vilnius, Lithuania. The baltic states invited us to come there, to learn about our cooperation between the nordic nations. The meeting was good, with the main focus on safety issues in competitions. Vilnius looked like a nice city, but we did not have time to do any sightseeing. Most people spoke good English, while Russian is commonly used as language between the baltic countries.
If we include the baltic nations in our nordic group the records will also be included from baltic states. A female Lithuanian PG pilot flew 190km, so it’s potential for good flights in the baltic flatlands.
One other suggestion that came up was a request from Denmark to make it possible for any nordic pilot to set a nordic record in any nordic country. The Danes have run out of space, and so have Iceland. Norway has less than the HG open distance record of 309km between controlled airspace if you go North-South, while it’s still plenty of space to go east into Sweden.
What do you think of this suggestion? It will be decided next year. Feedback is welcome.
Winter has arrived in Oslo, it’s been snowing the last week. This weekend we hope to fly with the students from Flesberg.
Bjørn and I went out to take some high flights with the students this weekend. Saturday we went to Vikersund as it was forecasted NW winds. It turned out to be mostly NE, and way to strong to fly in. We went up to the top of the ski jump tower and had a look. I think the longest jumps in Vikersund are above 200 meters.
Sunday was forecasted weak SW and sunny, perfect for a day at Brandbu. It looked very good until we came to Brandbu and met the fog, it was dense gray and not possible to see the takeoff from the landing. We drove up, and after a while the fog seemed to dissapate a little. The wind however was not favorable, blowing cross and tail most of the time. We waited the whole day, and then a front came in and shaded the sun making the tailwind stronger.
Jonny Durant Jr. did a very nice flight in Australia yesterday, 443km from the family’s home site in Beechmont. The Oz report have more on the flight
It’s been a good season for record attempts in Norway, the period in late May and early June provided some fantastic flying conditions. Here’s a summary of the records set or broken this year;
FAI triangle speed over 50km
Pilot: Olav Opsanger
Dato: 2004/04/29
Takeoff: Vole, Vågå
Landing: Sørem, Vågå
Distanse: 50 km
Oppgavetype: FAI triangle speed over 50km
Oppgavetid: 1:18:52
Gennomsnittshastighet: 38 km/t
Antall TP: 4
Informasjon:
http://www.kkpg.no/index.php3?id=93&l=2&a=34&trip_id=54540
Declared goal speed over 100km
Pilot: Jon Gjerde
Dato: 2004/05/29
Takeoff: Bjorli
Goal: Nær Ringebu
Distanse: 100 km
Oppgavetype: Declared goal speed over 100km
Oppgavetid: 3:45:43
Gennomsnittshastighet: 26,5 km/t
Antall TP: 2
Informasjon:
http://www.kkpg.no/index.php3?id=93&l=2&a=34&trip_id=57238
Straight distance to a declared goal
Pilot: Jon Gjerde
Dato: 2004/05/29
Takeoff: Bjorli
Goal: Nær Ringebu
Distanse: 130,1 km
Oppgavetype: Straight distance to a declared goal
Informasjon:
http://www.kkpg.no/index.php3?id=93&l=2&a=34&trip_id=57238
Speed over 150km out&return
Pilot: Olav Opsanger
Dato: 2004/05/31
Takeoff: Vole, Vågå
Landing: Srem, Vågå
Distanse: 150 km
Oppgavetype: O&R speed over 150km
Oppgavetid: 4:05:52
Gennomsnittshastighet: 36,6 km/t
Antall TP: 3
Informasjon:
http://www.kkpg.no/index.php3?id=93&l=2&a=34&trip_id=57558
Out&return distance
Pilot: Olav Opsanger
Dato: 2004/05/31
Takeoff: Vole, Vågå
Landing: Sørem, Vågå
Distanse: 150,5 km
Oppgavetype: O&R distance
Informasjon:
http://www.kkpg.no/index.php3?id=93&l=2&a=34&trip_id=57558
Open distance
Pilot: Jon Gjerde
Dato: 2004/05/31
Takeoff: Bismo
Landing: Rena
Distanse: 206,5 km
Oppgavetype: Open distance
Informasjon:
http://www.kkpg.no/index.php3?id=93&l=2&a=34&trip_id=57741
FAI triangle speed over 25km
Pilot: Otto Baste
Dato: 2004/06/03
Takeoff: Vole, Vågå
Landing: Sørem, Vågå
Distanse: 25 km
Oppgavetype: FAI triangle speed over 25km
Oppgavetid: 40:46
Gennomsnittshastighet: 36,8 km/t
Antall TP: 4
Informasjon:
http://www.kkpg.no/index.php3?id=93&l=2&a=34&trip_id=58437
Declared goal speed over 50km
Pilot: Bjørn Hammer
Dato: 2004/06/12
Takeoff: Blåhø, Vågå
Goal: Fåvang
Distanse: 50 km
Oppgavetype: Declared goal speed over 50km
Oppgavetid: 1:15:50
Gennomsnittshastighet: 39,5 km/t
Antall TP: 2
Informasjon:
http://www.kkpg.no/index.php3?id=93&l=2&a=34&trip_id=59522
Not much flying going on here lately, the weather have been the usual wet and windy for the season, and I’ve not been involved with the beginner course so far. I’ve also sold my Litespeed S, the new owner have had a few flights with it and seemed to be very happy with the glider.
We will send a full team to the Worlds in Australia, it will be Nils Åge, Olav, Robin, Johnny, Jon and I. Most of us will travel on Christmas day from Oslo. The plan is to pick up cars and gliders, and then travel directly to Denniliquin. Some of us will fly in the Oz Open comp in Denniliquin to warm up for the worlds.
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This weekend I attended the obligatory instructor seminar. Every instructor have to attend every 4 years to keep the licence. We had it in Vågå, with about 20 instructors in this year. It was flyable both saturday and sunday, but the schedule did not allow for flying until the afternoon, and by then it was raining both days. Sunday Olav and I went up to Vole in hope of getting a flight, but it overdeveloped and rained hard when we came up.
Fredrik and I decided to give Sundvollen a try, with NW winds and nice weather it seemed like a perfect day for that site. I had to work until 15:30, so we were a little late, luckily it turned out to be a good thing as everyone had short extended glides earlier in the day.
It was very calm when we came to the landing, Erik Vermaas had just landed after a short flight. When we came up to takeoff it was blowing 4-5 m/s straight in. It became stronger and very gusty while we were rigging the gliders, so we waited for 2 hours until the sun was setting and the thermals died out. I took off at 19:30 in very laminar and nice air. It was almost too weak in the beginning, but I slowly gained height and got some weak thermals assisting the ridge lift.
The sun was setting, and the view was great from 900 meters. Sundvollen is a very rewarding site to get up at, the terrain is so flat that you feel very high and free as soon as you get a few hundred above the ridge. I got some good thermals even after the sun was below the horizon. I had to land before it became too dark, and joined Fredrik in the newly cut field. A perfect way to spend a Monday night!