This is (probably – you never know for sure!) my last Soaring Cafe post. Last month, at the Minden 18m Nationals, I was disqualified for ‘unsafe thermalling’ in response to a written complaint from Dennis Linnekin (DL). In addition to being disqualified from that event, I was prevented from competing in the 15m Nationals at Montague.…
— Daily Digest
FLIGHT MH 17!!!
by Bill Elliott •
With the tragic end of flight MH 17 from Malaysia Airlines above the East of the Ukraine, EVERYTHING seems unimportant. I started this blog a couple of days ago, when the beginning of the 33d WGC was one of the high leveled items for this blog. Now it is all totally unimportant, totally not relevant!!!…
US Sports Class Nationals Practice Day 1
by Bill Elliott •
Greetings from Midlothian, TX, home of the Texas Soaring Association, hosts of this years Sports Class Nationals. I’m here flying a 13 meter Apis. My sister Amy is assisting as my expert crew. We arrived last night after finishing up the Region 10 North contest back at home. I was the CD there and Amy…
Ireland’s First 500km Flight by Kevin Houlihan
by Bill Elliott •
My mother always claims that June 22nd is really the longest day. It certainly was for her in 1954 because on that day in that year I, her firstborn, arrived. I’m not sure if she has recovered yet. June 22nd this year was, for me, the longest day ever – in a glider. I pedaled…
Patience, patience….
by Bill Elliott •
I had tonsillectomy at the end of June but after that I felt great (just pain in my throat, but no fever, etc.) So, one week later, I decided to fly again as I felt super-healthy… although I was a bit tired. No surprise, it is natural after a surgery. We had a task called…
Managing Schempp-Hirth and the “-us”
by Bill Elliott •
Tilo Holighaus talks about Business, Family and Soaring Following the rainy and cold WGC in Finland was a bit dissappointing, compared to the great Grand Prix in France two months ago… While in Finland the teams were talking about saunas, food and football, I couldn’t help thinking back to the pictures and reports which Tilo…
Gliding in the Swiss Alps
by Bill Elliott •
Photo by Guido Müller There was a low cloud base in the Swiss Alps near Lucerne, but good weather to take some pictures.
2 and 1/2 hours in the air
by Bill Elliott •
As I have had tonsillitis for a few months, I haven’t planned longer flights until I will have a surgery. However, the weekend weather was perfect and my hand was in. It was ideal to fly 3 hours. (According to the training syllabus I have to fly 3 and 5 hours near the airport…
Tullahoma, Tenn GTA Race – Day 3
by Bill Elliott •
I’m writing this from the comfort of my home office back in Columbus, Ohio. I got home about 3am Ohio time this morning, after an uneventful drive back from the Tullahoma. We got in a 3rd day on Sunday – a 2hr TAT. Conditions were variable – OK to very good to the north of…
Tullahoma Tenn GTA Race, Day 2
by Bill Elliott •
Most days when the weather doesn’t work out as forecast, it is because something bad happened – high overcast, storms popping up, spread-out/overdevelopment – you know the list. Today, however, we got what CD Francois Pin (PF) referred to as ‘the other side of the coin. The forecast was for blue all day – we…
