Practice/Registration day 2012 CCSC XC Camp

Friday, yesterday, and today glider trailers from as far away as New England, Florida, Alabama, and Texas have been arriving at CCSC near Waynesville, Ohio to participate in the 2012 CCSC XC Camp.  A few arrived as early as Friday evening, and in fact John Mittell (BZ) arrived early enough Friday evening to call me on 123.3 while I was still on final glide, finishing a wonderful 530km FAI triangle (hopefully to be validated as an Ohio state record flight).

Today many of the arrivals got in decent familiarization flights, made slightly more difficult by some high cirrus drifting in from the south.  However, many pilots reported excellent lift, with one local XC pilot reporting that he was averaging about 10kt in a climb over Randolph County airport, a turnpoint about 50 miles to the northwest.  I left my  glider in the box today, zipping around the gliderport in my big red F-150 getting pilots settled in and generally getting in everyone’s way.

Today also saw pilots bringing their Condor rigs into the clubhouse and getting things set up in preparation for planned Condor flights (and with the weather report for tomorrow we will probably fly in Condor before we fly in  real life).   I have to say that some of these guys put my simple laptop/joystick setup to shame with 24″ LCD monitors, top-end rudder pedals and joysticks, and TrackIR head-tracking systems.  There were two pilots who brought bean-bag chairs with them so they could more closely emulate a reclined cockpit position – and I thought I was a fanatic!

CM Rolf Hegele did yeoman duty today getting everyone  registered, and by the end of the day  I think we had most, if not all pilots squared away.  The first official day of the XC camp starts tomorrow morning at 0830, and that is where we may get our first good indication of how things will go for the rest of the week.   From what I have seen so far though, I am encouraged that we have a  good, enthusiastic group, and one that seems to understand the role that Condor can play in learning efficient XC racing techniques.

Stay Tuned!

Frank (TA)

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