Technology

Thoughts on Low-Cost Gliding Navigation

Thoughts on Low-Cost Gliding Navigation Ok, before we start a little DISCLAIMER: The following text only represents my personal, subjective opinion and reflects only upon the personal, subjective experiences I gained over the last years, flying club, private and rental gliders in recreational, cross-country and competition flying and is subject to change and in no…

Dale Kramer, BMapper, and Windows 7

A month or so ago I was finally forced to abandoned my beloved Dell Precision M6300 laptop running Win XP for a newer ride.  I liked that old laptop so much I actually had two identical M6300 models so I could swap the hard drive from my primary to my backup (or vice versa) in case of…

Excel Logging Spreadsheet for Gliders

A friend of mine commented the other day that he couldn’t find a decent logging application that could create log entries from IGC files.  I have a fair bit of experience with automating Excel spreadsheets using VBA (Visual Basic for Applications), and I was bored out of my skull (it’s winter, don’t you know), so…

Tea with “Two-Delta” – Visiting the Mü-31 project

One afternoon last week, I found myself on a Munich underground train holding a slice section of a sailplanes´s outer wing. Pretending to be untouched by everyone’s weird looks, I took the time to examine my precious gift. Although I handle entire gliders and intact wings almost every day, seeing the inside of a wing…

A Jet-Glider (Strahlsegler)

This article gives the worldwide community of glider pilots some more information about an idea that could give this sport a new impulse. In my practical work as a flying instructor, [it seems imperative that] a new way of teaching and flying must be created and the aircraft for this way must be invented. Winch launch and even towing launch need too many persons that are no longer available. The glider of the future will be the self-launcher but not the retractable.

iGlide – Impressions from a New User

These are [some] points [about iGlide] that I thought were most noteworthy so far. I like the app a lot and am ready to fly with it this week. I’ll [add more] impressions and thoughts after I get some time with it in the air. I’m interested in “post flight” procedures. i.e. transferring flight files for saving on my computer for analysis and sending in to the OLC for daily scoring.

Flarm-IGC Update

A significant update to the GPS Flight Recorder function of FLARM-IGC units is now available. Owners are advised to incorporate this as soon as possible. It is available through a web download, as described below.

What’s Your Pleasure: Turkey, Fajita or Glider Wrap?

I have been thinking about the aging fleet of composite gliders around the world and the problem of gelcoat crazing and cracking. Every owner must be wondering at times about the remaining life they have on their gelcoat and about the eventually inevitable refinishing. The approaches to this issue so far have been three-fold in my opinion.