Scheibe SF-28A Tandem Falke, by George Uveges

MOTORGLIDINGDonald P . Monroe, Editor

Vol . 7, No . 1

Published by The Soaring Society of America, Inc .

February-March 197 7

Contents Page

NORTHWEST FROM GUADELOUPEby Douglas J . Terman

2

FOREIGN SCENE, by S .O . Jenko 4

THE TUCSON FLIGHT, by Jack Lambie 6

1st EUROPEAN MOTORGLIDING 11CHAMPIONSHIPS - 197 8

Cover : Scheibe SF-28A Tandem FaZke, by George Uveges

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NORTHWEST FROM GUADELOUP E

by Douglas J . Terman

Guadeloupe has been a hell o fpaperwork . Simply to land and refue land file has taken two hours .

First closing the flight plan . Theaerodrome officer eyes me warily . Hecannot find anything on file . He shrugsand closes out anyway . November 21 1Delta Tango down at 1708 Zulu . CrazyAmerican . I imitate the shrug to showthat I, too, have elan .

Health and Immigration . I barelypass inspection . Dandruff under control ?No imported fruit? I produce an appl ecore from my flight jacket . He takes itdisdainfully in his gloved hand anddrops it with some ceremony into a re-ceptacle . Animals? Non, Monsieur In-spector . Not counting the 47-foot-wing-spanned gull which I have on the ramp .

Immigration is more imposing . Bluekewpie hat, epaulettes and a Universa lMark I Cop's face, full of suspicion an ddisbelief . How long am I staying? Wherehave I come from? Where am I going ?What am I going in ?

I talk about getting some gas . Es-sence . Petrol . His face registers un-derstanding . Aircrew? Pilot? He flap shis arms a bit in imitation of a bird .

I raise one eyebrow and nod, throw-ing back the trailing end of my scarfand adjusting the oil-misted goggles . Islouch a bit, leaning against his desk .The pecking order has been established .He clears me in, stamping my passpor tand then clears me out, stamping again .It is said by some that in French coun-tries, the production of paperwork is anartform .

I am next directed to the airportmanager's office to fill in some paper-work . The form is in French, of course .I fill it in, guessing at the questions ,slurring the answers in ink . There is afee and I pay it, not knowing for whatservice I have paid . But does one ever ,with taxes ?

Back to the ramp and finally, theShell truck arrives . He squirts in 14 . 7liters . The process is lengthy as fue lmust cross drain from the port to th estarboard wing tank . He asks the inevi-table question . Where is my towplane t oassist my climb to altitude . I point tothe 55-horse Limbach with the toothpic kprop . He also shrugs .

Next the Met office . Their infor-mation is superb as they have satellit eweather . There is talk about the Bermud ahigh, winds aloft and lapse rates . Evenwithout an interpreter I get the gist . A .good tailwind for the British Virgin Is-lands, 240 miles to the northwest . Ifile for 10 .5 thousand, two and a quarterhours en.route . The dispatcher smiles . AmI going by balloon, perhaps ?

Even taxiing out is a grind . At theintersection of the general ramp area an dthe taxiway system, there is a concret edrain system composed of chunks of th eMaginot line with gunpoint for wate rdrainage . Definitely not negotiable fo rthe tailwheel or the outrigger wheels .So I taxi over the drain system with th emain wheel and then shut down . Canopyopen and around to the lifting handle son the fuselage . Grunt, and I swing theRF-5 through 180 degrees and roll he rbackwards onto the taxiway and then -grunt, swing her through 180 again . Backin, canopy closed and restart .

Ground control politely inquire sabout my intentions . Do I need assis-tance? In the background of his glas senclosed cage someone is laughing . Damn :

I taxi about fourteen miles and fi-nally am given the active .

Time for a final cockpit check andDelta Tango and I start rolling . Reallygood wind down the runway ; about twentyknots . We are airborne and climbing i na few hundred feet . They switch me t odeparture control who asks for a 120 0squawk . I tell them that I have nega-tive squawker . They try a skin paintwith their radar and negative skin paint .It would seem the plywood and fabric ar every radar non-reflective . I submit thi sinformation without charge to Mr . Kell yJohnson of the Lockheed Skunk Worksshould they have a successor to the U- 2in design stages .

I kiss off departure control an dswitch to 122 .8 .

The afternoon is wel lalong and I will be landing about dark .But as I climb, the cockpit cools andCaribbean Sea before me is strewn withislands . Antigua to the north, and t othe west, Montserrat ; then Nevis and St .Kitts - Saint Eustatius and Saba beyond .The Limbach is purring along at 2900 rp mand everything green on the gauges . Purebliss .

Miles flow beneath us ; miles that Ihave traversed often under sail . Windymiles and wet miles but all the same,

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great miles . And it occurs that Delt aTango is a sister to that old schooner;both molded to their environment ; bothusing rather than resisting the forcesthey encounter .

Saint Barts slides beneath my nose .Probably the possessor of one of thehairiest airstrips in the world . Estab-lished procedure is to slide over th eridge and make a pass over the field t oclear off the sheep . The sheep are quit eused to this . Then a race-track patternand carrier approach . Good brakes arerecommended for you're landing downhill .A very high pucker factor, the strip atSt . Barts . But the rum is cheap anytime of the year .

The sun is sliding down the westernsky, haloing the building cumulus of lat eafternoon . On the surface of the sea ,black shadows trail the clouds as theymove toward the west . The islands to thenorth are Saint Maarten and the outrigge rrock of Ile Tintamarre . Beyond that, asmudge of grey green called Anguilla . Icall up St . Maarten approach control an dgive them my time abeam as I turn morewesterly for the British Virgins .Approach/departure control accords me thecourtesy of recording my time and wishin gme a good evening . Pan Am certainly getsno better treatment . Good evening, St .Maarten . And goodbye for awhile.

"Goodbye, Delta Tango, and good pas-sage," he says . As if he knows that Ihate to leave the islands .

We are flying almost due west now ,sliding down toward the sun . The greatlong swells rolling in from the Atlanti cpattern the sea below in liquid correga-tions and the same wind which charms myairspeed into the three digit range cox-combs those swells below with ridges ofwhite . We are high ; much too high towork the cloudstreets below, but I enjoytheir classic elegance just the same .They stretch as far as the eye can se eout to the eastern horizon and continue ,unbroken, to the limits of vision in thewest .

Sunlight and shadow dapple the sea .Far to the north, a solitary tanker plodseastward for Africa and the Cape . Hiscourse is too far south to be otherwise .I make a note of his position and timefor one of the necessities of solitarypassaging is to know where the closes thelp may be .

I try to get an indication on th eVOR of either St . Thomas or St . Croix .

STT stutters in the headphones but th eflag says no soap . St . Croix is bette rand I set in the radial which passesthrough Beef Island, Tortola, BritishWest Indies .

The sky is a good place to think ,as is the sea . The routines become fa-miliar, requiring less concentration andthe mind wanders around, trying to fil lin the gaps of consciousness . And I mus eon the shortcomings of Delta Tango .

What are the shortcomings of Delt aTango as an aircraft and of motorglidersas a breed? On one end, we suffer th eslings and arrows of the purists intheir glass wombs with their diamon dbadges and their towlines firmly affixe dto L-19s . (Not pure enough, they say) .No less so, the contempt of the man thattrucks through the blue with 280 horse sgrafted onto a marginally aerodynami cpterodactyl . (Not fast enough, they say) .

But perhaps shortcomings is th ewrong approach . Perhaps it is realitythat aircraft such as the RF-5 are th efuture . And the key to it all is petro-leum . The bulk carrier on its way t oAfrica is empty, having disgorged on equarter of a million tons of crude . Butone day, some man in a white flowin grobe, while sipping tea, will call hi strusted advisor aside and say, "Abdul ,the Americans are being naughty . Turnoff the tap ." And the oil will cease t oflow . And the L-19s will cease to fly .And the Lears and the Beeches and th eBoeings will gather dust in dark hangars .But there will still seep through th ecracks of privation, a small trickle o foil . Delta tango burns 2 .7 per hour atcruise . Less than half of that atloiter-looking-for-thermal speeds . Themanual says that she will feed on pre-mium automotive fuel .

And perhaps with foxy determinationand a bit of cribbing up on chemistry ,she will drink alcohol . Even become ad-dicted to it . Or hydrogen . Coal, i fneed be .

And perhaps one day I may reques tclearance from ATC for flight and theywill reply, "Delta Tango is cleared t oclimb to and maintain any altitude in anydirection . There is no other traffic . "Grim thought, but one to be examined :.

The VOR needle on St . Croix isstarting to come off the peg and a smudg eon the sea begins to materialize ove rthe right exhaust stack . I pull thethrottle back to the stop and roll over

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on the right wingtip . An island massforms slowly in the windshield. . .a soli-dified wave of green and grey in the sea .Hills and valleys . A scattering o fbuildings on a. hillside and then the bayflashing beneath me as I drop the gearand make a call to the tower .

"Cleared to land ." he says in th erich chocolate accent of the BVI .Throttle back to the stop with the

boost pump on . Gear safety pin in . Atouch of spoiler to correct the glidepath and we flare over the numbers . Stickslowly back and the tail wheel rolls fo ra nano-second before the main geartouches .

It is the rose tint of tropical twi-light . But far above me in the growlin gcumulus, there is still sunlight .

FOREIGN SCENE

by S .O . Jenko, Dipi . Ing. ETHAMTECH SERVICES

Bomb ardier-Rotax Engine sSuggestions were voiced occasionall y

in Motorgliding that the snowmobile en-gines manufactured by Bombardier-Rotaxmight be suitable for auxiliary-powere dsailplanes . Our Foreign Scene article smentioned at least two accounts ofpro-duction auxiliary-powered sailplane swhich at one time or currently have them .However, no technical articles were seenwhich would provide a description .

In order to explore this matter w ewrote several months ago to this Austria nsnowmobile engine manufacturer, request-ing information on their Rotax 642 an dRotax 294 engines . A prompt reply withbeautiful assembly (installation) draw-ings and specifications ended specula-tions and hopes .

Engine Type 64 2Originally a snowmobile engine, the

two-cycle, two-cylinder, in-line blower-cooled engine has now a dual ignition andas such is approved by the Austrian FAAfor aircraft uses, including auxiliary-powered sailplanes . Total displacementis 635 cc ; max . continuous (also takeoff)power is 38 hp at 5500 rpm; idle speedis approximately 1600 rpm . Dry weightwith exhaust muffler is 90 lb (hand star-ter) or 99 lb with an electric starte r(without the battery) . The price is ap-proximately $1,000 fob factory for th eengine with electric starter .

While the price is very high as com-pared to any other snowmobile engine o fsimilar size and power it comes with amuffler and a Bing float type carbureto r- ready for installation in an auxiliary-powered sailplane . However, the muffleris located along the side of the engine,

resulting in a total width (edge of th eair filter -- edge of muffler) of 23 . 6inches - apparently unusable for any

retractable installation . By rotating

the engine 90 0 (cylinders in the horizon-tal plane) and using a diaphragm typecarburetor instead of the Bing float

type, the engine envelope narrows toabout 15 .5 inches . Additional disadvan-tage is the blower cooling instead of th efree-air, not to mention also the high

weight of the engine .In view of the popularity of th e

auxiliary-powered sailplane in Europe on ejust cannot understand why the manufac-turer did not provide the few and simpl emodifications needed for conversion int oan engine suitable for auxiliary-poweredsailplanes and light powered aircraft .

Engine Type 294, Model 73This engine is a snowmobile engine

(not certificated for aircraft use), hav-ing single ignition but otherwise similarto Type 642 . Having a displacement o f294 cc it develops 25 .8 hp at 7500 rp m(apparently a racing engine) . Hand star-ter only . No weight was given - esti-mated at about 60 lb (engine only) .Price was quoted at approximately $38 0fob Austria which includes the muffler .

So, it looks the search and waitingfor suitable engine will continue whil ethe auxiliary-powered sailplane (espe-cially single-place) and the light powere daircraft development will be severel yhandicapped .

However, if any of the readers areinterested in a sound business proposalto start manufacturing a line of two ,possibly three snowmobile engines of pro-ven design which, with minor modifica-tions, could be also used in single- an dtwo-place auxiliary-powered sailplanes(also light powered aircraft) - withoutspending and wasting millions of dollars (! )

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- please let me know . There may be suc ha possibility available . The future forsuch engines is the brightest ever an dthe enterprise itself would be quite re-warding . But it requires some capital --not promoters !

Something For Everyone• Speaking of engines, Aerokurier

(10/76) describes in a short article th edevelopment of a new engine kit by thre eGermans, H . Kabisch, J . Reitz and M .Maethner . Currently it is a four-cycle ,horizontally-opposed four-cylinder pis-ton engine . It could be further developedinto a six- or eight-cylinder engine .

With a 2 .8-liter displacement i tproduces 70 hp at 2350 rpm . The weightis 144 lb . Fuel injection provides astratified charge effect resulting in op-timal emission, comparable to Californi arequirements . The CDI is another feature .

With a Hoffmann 65" diameter pro-peller and a set of mufflers (intake an dexhaust) a noise level of 56 dB(A) a t1,000 ft is expected - substantial y% be-low the present official requiremei.Ls .

The well known Scheibe Aircraft Co .celebrated recently 25 years of produc-tion, according to a lengthy article in

Aerokurier (3/77) . It was founded i n1951 by the well-known designer of sail-planes, Dipl . Ing . Egon Scheibe . Whil ehe was instrumental in persuading theAllied Forces in 1951 to permit the re-sumption of soaring in Germany his engi-neering design work stretches way back- including auxiliary-powered sailplane s(see Foreign Scene 2/74) - to the earl y'30s . In addition to being a sailplan emanufacturer (specifically trainers) ,Scheibe Aircraft Co . is also known forseveral models of two-place auxiliary-powered sailplanes . Some single-plac eauxiliary-powered sailplanes were als oproduced, the best known are the SF-27Mand the SF-32 - all described in pre-vious Foreign Scene articles .

While most of the sailplanes andAPSs were of simple, conservative design ,more than 2,000 of them were manufacturedduring the past 25 years . Hopefully hi sproducts will continue for years to pro-vide enjoyment to soaring enthusiast sover the world - without or with th eauxiliary-power.

• APSs performance evaluation byDipl . Ing . H . Zacher is presented in anarticle in Aerokurier (5/77) . The fol-lowing table provides some of the moreinteresting and surprising (!) data :

APS Span(m)

Wing Are a(sq .

ft .)Aspect Ratio Wing Loading

(psf)L/D at

V

(mph)

AK 1* 14 .85 152 15 .5 6 30 .5 6 1

AS-K16 16 204 13 .5 7 .4 23 .5 63

KORA 1 18 209 16 .7 7 .3 27 .5 5 7

RF-5B 17 204 15 .25 7 .3 24 60

SF-28 16 .3 197 14 .5 6 .5 23 .5 56

*Single place, built by Karlsruhe College Soaring Group

• 2nd International Alpine Contestfor Tandem FaZke APSs took place inGruyeres (also the home of an excellentcheese of the same name), Switzerland .The event was scheduled for May 27th t o30th to provide the uniuqe experience o falpine soaring - with a two-place APS !

• The Austrian Aero-Club sponsore dthe 1st Austrian APS contest during Jun e12th to 19th at Schaerding-Suben (locate din central Austria on the Austrian-Germanborder between Passau and Salzburg) fo rsingle and two-place APSs .

• Burg Feuerstein is calling - You !The 1st European APSs contest is sched-uled for next year, May 22nd to June 10th ,according to a note in Aerokurier (5/77) .It should be a great event ; the sponsoris the Aero-Club of West Germany . (Seemore details elsewhere in this issue --Ed.)

In addition to flying activitie sthe latest in the development and designof auxiliary-powered sailplanes is to beseen . So, try to get there, otherwise --just indulge in wishful thinking!

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THE TUCSON FLIGHT

by Jack Lambi e

The lock clicks, the doors rumbl eopen as I push . Heavy steel ; corruga-tions and beams . A delicate wood andfabric flying machine inside . Fueled ,ready, a cover over its streamlined plas-tic canopy like a hooded Falcon . I un-hook the battery charger and pull it int othe sunshine . A flight to Tucson and th eSoaring Convention . Another adventure .Fresh, unpredictable, the nature of fly-ing is so . What experiences will thi sone bring?

Gas on, choke, four pulls of th ehand starter, ignition on, choke off . Aslow easy drag on the start lever and th equiet pthum-pthum-swish-swish-swish o fthe engine-prop begins . I settle back ,my stocking feet nestle on the foam floo rand rudder pedals . My brother Mark wavesme off as he rolls the doors closed an dhis compatriots in the tower give me run-way three for takeoff because I'm goin geast .

With ten gallons in the tank andfive in the baggage compartment, plussleeping bag, camera, and the usual odd sand ends the little ship climbs slowlybetween the rows of Eucalyptus tree sbordering Chino airport . Over Riverside ,a shearline thermal is good for an eas ytwo thousand feet gain . On into themountains past Hemet, I aim straight to

glide lower in the increasing dark an dmark the highway to Gila Bend in th ecreeping points of headlight glow . Look-ing over the town of Gila Bend and int othe blackness ahead the lights of th erunway are sustended. Three hundredmiles out, in three hours and time to putmy spare five gallons of fuel in the tank .

The wheel clicks down and spoiler sopen, speed at 75, aim for the end of th erunway in a curving approach . As therate of turn in the runway lights appear sto increase and flatten, it's time t oease the nose up and let the plane settle .It's not possible to tell exactly wherethe surface is, so I hold spoilers atone-quarter, until the wheel touches . Isensed that we had settled about ten feetbelow the level of the runway edge lights .I open the canopy and taxi to the hangar sin the warm night air . Under a brightlight, my five gallons of Texaco regula rgurgle in . Clean the bugs off the lead-ing edges and sort out the cockpit . Theairport operator comes by and offerscoffee in his lounge, then he takes offin a Cessna 150 with a student . The cof-fee is old but drinkable . The plane i sstill, its engine warm, ready to . go, asI sit in the quiet, sipping the bitte rdrink . An orange light glows in th eeastern sky and the edge of the moon ap-pears over the mountains . In twentyminutes the mountains are outlined sharp-ly in the moonlight . It is time to go .

In an airplane with no gyro instru -the side of the rocks, hit the lift, turn ' ments on the panel the moon sharply mark-

ing the mountains is comforting . It' sprobably too late to go to Tucson's RyanField for the gliding convention tonight ,but the Antique Airmeet at Casa Grandeshould have a good crowd of plane lovers .The world seems quiet in the gray-whit emoonshine and the points of light below .The runway markers of Casa Grande airportappear and a sweep over the field show srows of experimentals, antiques and bi-planes in shades of gray and white . Iunlatch the gearlock and lift the leverup and over putting the single wheel ina position to insure the propeller con-tinues to turn after landing . Anotherfloat down the runway feeling for the un-seen surface . Again, it seems we are sixfeet below the runway lights when th ewheel lightly touches . I park the ma-chine and search out a campfire for someairplane talk .

A couple of family groups are shar-ing a big blaze . "That you that justcame in with the little white plane ?

and slide along the edges, riding highe rand higher . Off to the next ridge and le tthe wind push us up . Over the road ,crossing into the Imperial Valley . Hey !A Cessna 210 is coming directly at us !A quick climbing turn and the mean look-ing machine drives under, never waverin gfrom its steady climb .

Soaring up through the mountainsbrought 8000 feet so a pull on the fue land in seconds the engine becomes quiet .I slow to 65 mph with the prop stoppe din least drag, horizontal position . Aglide across the Salton Sea carries usnear the sand dunes . At 500 feet I turnon the ignition and fuel and the engin efires as usual at the first pull on thestarter . Skimming over the big dunes isalways fun . No people or obstruction sout here . Past Yuma military base, Istay just south of the restricted are aand low until well past, then circle i na smooth thermal to 6,000 feet at sunset .

Puttering along at low power we6

Here have a beer . What kinda ship i sthat?" I briefly describe the motor-glider and ask about his plane . "Me an dmy friends here belong to the TaylorcraftClub and we flew them up here . Spent alot of time gettin 'em ready for th eshow 'cause they're antiques you know . "

"Isn't the banquet and prize givingmeeting going on now?" I asked .

"Yeah, but that's too much money . Ican feed me and my two kids for what tha tdinner would cost me . "

I wondered why a person would spen dthe many hours and money building up anold plane, fly it to the meet and the nsave money by not going to the awards .banquet . Perhaps the same conservativeturn of mind that preserves an old air-plane also objects to wasteful pomp andcircumstance . I wandered in the moon-light among the painstakingly finishe dantique biplanes, yellow was white, andred was gray, chromed and polished partsreturned and scattered the bright roundmoon . Another campfire .

"When I take off, I give 'er ful lpower . You can't be too safe when you'r eflying . "

"You can say that again," said an-other .

"Flying is one thing that you gotto be careful . You can't take any chan-ces ." said a third . The conversatio nrambled on ; the flyers becoming more dul land cliched as the beer drained from cansheld in increasingly colder hands . Thefire died and the cold desert air set-tled as the ground gave up its daytim eheat .

I pulled the cushions from my cock-pit, unstowed the sleeping bag and snug-gled down next to the graceful glider .Teenaged twin female CAP cadets cam eover with a young pilot who was showingthem around .

"This is a motorglider," he ex-plained to the pretty girls in the baggyfatigue uniforms . "My dad showed me anarticle about them in a pilot's magazin ethat was terrific, that's how I know al labout them. You can just about maneuve rand soar with the engine off if you want .I peeked out with one eye feeling verysmug and drifted off to a happy sleep .

At sparrows fart I was up to strol lthrough the rows of exciting and nostal-gic planes . A perfect Boeing biplan ewon but a superbly restored Howard DG Awas my favorite . It was big outside ,hugely roomy inside . A he-man machin eof the late Golden Age of Aviation . You'd

have to own an oil company to keep it i nfuel but what a great machine .

The highly touted breakfast in oneof the hangars was cold and greasy look-ing and the settings dismal so I passe dit up, hopped in the Fournier, an dbriefly joined the morning flyby beforeheading south along the big freeway t oTucson .

Over Eloy, despite much circlingover likely looking bunches of trees Ididn't see the place where we were sleep-ing when the scorpion crawled into th esleeping bag on our around-the-world tan-dem trip two years before . Seeing thedramatic Pacheco Peak and soon afte rMarana Airpark brought back memories .

In the spring of 1975 the world wa sin a depression and as we rode by thi sAirpark on the tandem bicycle we saw thefield crowded with shiny new airliner sof all sizes . This day as I passed ove rI counted only 35 airliners, mostly olde rturboprops and jets, but including twowidebody DC-10s . Times are better now .Only fifteen miles to go now and at AVRAValley Airport an early thermal smartl ybumped the ship and I shut off, climbe da few hundred feet and glided on to RyanField .

Calls on Unicom and 123 .3 glide rfrequency were unanswered so I glide daround in a right pattern as I had seenthe big Ryson motorglider doing a coupl eof times on the glide in . . . Turning fina l4 opened full spoilers and got the nos edown . Just then a Blanik two seate rsailplane was pushed on the precise plac eI had planned to land! Hmm, best to kee pthe spoilers open and touch quickly wit hfirm braking . But the crowd around th eglider spread back to take up even mor espace and it was now possible that Imight bump someone even with a short stop .I reached for the ignition switch and

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starter lever and closed the spoilers ina single quick motion . Just as I pulle dup someone apparently decided, at lon glast, to check the pattern and in afrenzy the BZanik was swung and heave doff the runway . On again with the spoil-ers for a slightly long landing .

"We didn't hear you coming in ." Wasthe embarrassed apology of the operation sdirector . Ah, the complacency of a gli-der strip . They assume they are the onlyones and a glider from afar is never con-sidered . After this incident they wil lmake it a habit for awhile I hope . Thishas happened to the quiet Fournier a fe wtimes before so I have invented a highvisibility approach : Come in high ondownwind and make a base very close tothe end of the runway . Then use lots o fspoilers and do S turns up the fina ltight turn . Planes on a long approac hare sure to see you as well as those onthe ground waiting for takeoff. Besidesit's more fun .

The beautifully styled new Zuni wasbeing test demonstrated by Einar Enevold-son on a busman's holiday . He is one o fthe pilots at Edwards Experimental Faci-lity . This Standard Class ship, made i nAlbuquerque, N .M . seems to have picke dthe best features of all the others an dput it into one machine .

That most uniquely small and lightweight Eaglet powered glider threw it sfolding prop in half and was not able tocomplete a demonstration . The new Rysonmotorglider seemed the star of the show .Its finish and performance were top classand everyone wanted to have a ride . Thecost at perhaps $35,000 seemed low forthe quality . The small, light, and well-faired fixed gear was undoubtedly prac-tical but it surely didn't look right onsuch a big clean airplane . Charli eGyenes' turbo-charged RF-5B quietly buz-zed off in the background showing it sgraceful lines and the new adjustabl eprop .

` Taras Kiceniuck, Jr . and I sat onthe ground eating sausage sandwiches .watching a Pilatus B-4 standard classship go through an aerobatic repertoire .

"Look at that inverted loop, and ,--wow--that's a smooth slow roll . "

"But Taras, once you've been to afew airshows that stuff becomes very cli-ched . I wish we could develop a goodshow for gliders to do . "

"What do you mean?""Look, a sailplane can do many

things besides trying to copy what alittle biplane can do faster and far moreeasily . Would you like to see a glidin gdemonstration by a Pitts Special? I twould be stupid . "

We discussed what things a sailplanecould do that would be a far better dis-play of the pilot-sailplane ability . "Howabout coming over the crowd at 150 fee tat high speed, then do a vertical tur nwhich gradually becomes tighter as spee ddrops off until it is making the smalles ttightest turn possible with flaps andeverything out? "

"Right," Taras nodded . Gold badgepilot Connie Linke overheard and joine din .

"But don't people want somethingspectacular too? "

"O .K . Connie, How about a hightowand a two-tur,.i circle with a two-turnspin entered at a precise point, recoveryand continued cirles with another two-turn spin at the same spot, continue dcircles and so on . "

"You're right . That would be verypretty in a sailplane and very precise . "

We were talking about all kinds offantastic tricks when Bertha Ryan came byand I asked her to drive me to the gasstation across the field for some gaso-line . Bertha had scored and officiated

8

at contests for years and had flown he rlittle 1-26 sailplane for even more years

"That new Zuni looks beautiful ,doesn't it, Jack : I'm about to get ahigh performance glider pretty soon .With the prices going up so much I canget one and fly it for years without de -preciation . "

"Good thinking, Bertha, besides yo udeserve a slick ship by now ." We gotfive gallons of liquid thermals and drov eback past an area covered with Dougla stransports, DC-3 or C-47's if you like .I walked back to look through them afterI fueled the motorglider .

Wings on some were missing, engine sout, fabric control surfaces tattered . Ipicked my way to the cockpit of one an dedged into the remains of the captain's .seat . The wheel was warm in the desertsun . In the quiet of this corner of th eairport it was possible to slip back t othe days when it flew . The Burma jungle smoved below the curving fuselage and athick nylon line to a big troop glide rreached back from the tail . I looked outthe front and I could imagine a roto rcloud churning as we crossed the Humpwith a full load and the wings flexed an dgroaned in turbulence . I thought o fthousands of rivets the men and women pu tin to assemble the machine during themassive production of WWII and the placesand adventures that had passed theirwings . Now their silvery metal, stil lbright in the dry desert sun was bent inplaces, parts were gone, just the refus eof another era . So important in thei rtime, so cared for and relied upon . Likeold folks now with the children gone ,retired, like all of us eventually .

I walked back across the dusty run-way and prepared to go . A motorcyclis tand his girlfriend watch my sleeping bagbeing stuffed in and the seat adjuste dfor comfort . As I cleaned the canopy h ecame over .

"Where are you going now? ""No place, exactly . I guess I'l l

float on back toward California and sto pwhen it gets dark" .

"That sounds like a great way to go" .He smiled with envy when I climbed in ,pulled the start lever and taxied out tothe runway .

I flew on a 260 0 course west whichcarried into an unmarked Indian reserva-tion . This place is also the site o fthe old Luke Air Force Base and the re-strictions on my map said I must stay be-

low 3000 ASL . That was fine with me .Each-ridge andpile of rocky hills wereattacked at the base with a quick turninto the north wind, a climb up the sid ein the lift and a speedy slide onto th efloor of the valley . The Indian village sof Ail Nakya and Gu Achi passed below .Why would anyone live in such wilderness ?It was so rough and isolated for mil eafter mile it seemed we were on a ston ytreadmill . Up over the rocky hills past .the thousands of giant cacti and acrossbarren valleys . What's that off to theleft? It appears to be a huge hol ethrough a mountain . Using the freedom offlight the Fournier seems to read my mindso quickly does it respond to my light .touch, we head for the strange formation .It's a natural bridge . No roads lead t oit and, as far as I can see, no signs o feven a path . Nothing on my sectiona lmap either . I pull out the road map .Nothing on there either?

The bridge was big enough to fl ythrough . Should I? , What if a cactusbrushed a wing? Not very wise, I think .I took a picture and pulled up and aroun dthem tightly circled back, aiming forthe center, I could see a mountain in th ebackground framed by the natural bridge .It should be a good shot . Again at th elast instant I pulled up and over . Itwas simply too isolated to fly throughthat hole in a mountain .

Back on course over the dry rock sand Organ Pipe Cactus, (Did I really dis-cover a natural bridge?) I continued t ocheck the maps . Maybe I was at exactlythe right position .

Air Force plane sprobably flew too high and ground trave-lers might be too low . I wonder . Butonward .

Old Luke AFB number 7 and 8 withbrush growing in runway cracks moved be-low and after passing a bombing target

9

the freeway to Yuma could finally be seen .At another old airbase, Dateland ; one

of the antique biplanes sat, its brightorange wings reflecting the hot sun . Icircled but could see a Cessna hadjandedand was taxiing over so I continued on .

Near evening the twists and turning sof the Colorado River reflected the redof the lowering sun . I always marvel atthe science fiction fantasy of that beau -tiful river winding among deep shadow sof sharp and colorful peaks . At 300 fee tover the sand dunes north of Yuma the skywas deep red and the scene could hav ecome from Viking . Pink everywhere, th esky, the sand, the cockpit . The wingsshined pink as we skimmed an undulatin gpath over the miles of giant dunes . Isat immersed in an artists' fantasy unti lthe horizon's shadow darkened the ground .

Over Calpatria there were no runwaylights and although a gas station wasonly a block away I thought that it migh tbe difficult taking off in the totaldarkness of the farm country . I turnedand flew 10 miles south on to Brawley andglided into its lighted airport with th elast glow of red light on the horizon .

Like most airports now it was quie tand empty after sunset . I pulled theplane off the runway into the desert andwalked a few yards to the road with my 5gallon container . A farmer drove me t otown for gas and back . I had planned tostay and nap until the moon rose but thedriver was eager to see the machine fly .So what the heck . I take off and turntoward the city to give me an electri chorizon and a quick pass, wiggle thewings' lights at my new friend and hea dfor Indio . At full power climb, to in-sure a height ample to glide between air -ports, I noticed a flickering, bloomin gflash over the right wing . A valve

seemed to have become stuck during theclimb . It was still climbing so I op-tioned to go high enough to make a lon gglide possible . Over the west shore o fthe Salton Sea halfway across at a mil eup I slowed the engine to begin a gentl edescent to Thermal Airport . A few lightsglimmered in reflection from the shoreonto the sea . Again I put myself in an-other time, another experience . A war-time fighter over opposition territory .It is difficult now sitting home recol -lecting these things to remember howutterly frightening that must have been .I was scared in a light motorglider witha reasonable glide distance and slowlanding speed . When I pictured being ina P-47 dropping out of the ;ky at night ,it was terrible . Thermal came in viewbut I decided to go on to the manicure dand mown Bermuda Dunes Airport .

The moon was rising in giant, low -to-the-horizon, version as we quietl yglided off the last thousand feet ove rIndio and opened the spoilers and whee ldoors . That marvelous feeling of well -being is engulfing me as the ship i squietly floating for the end of the run -way in the warm desert air . I hold offover the ground and gently touch . Not asoul about to see my wonderful landing .I drive along the grass back to the tran -sient area parking, pull out the sleepin gbag and snuggle down under the wing . Be-cause of the trees and grass edging th efield, it feels as if I'm sleeping insomeone's front yard .

At morning I get a ride into tow nfrom a pilot of a turbo Commander to g oto the local courthouse . I had gotten aticket for riding the tandem bicycle o nthe freeway while going East on the Round -the-World bike trip and I wanted to settl eit .

10

"You really enjoyed the trip? O .K .We'll dismiss the warrant for nonappear-ance and the ticket too if you go t otraffic school ." said the judge .

Back to Bermuda Dunes and I hadthe option of paying a landing fee orhaving the mains topped off . "O .K . Fil l'er up ." At $1 .46 on the pump charge me-ter the laughing line boy couldn't getanother drop in the yawning "main" and I ,took off for Chino .

The ground moves by, richly three-dimensional in the crisply invisible air .I sit separated from the air and the groby a thin layer of plywood, fabric and`paint organized into this device whichallows one to become a being beyond anyother on this planet .

Another flight, another adventure ,another rich experience to expand my ori-entation to the human venture . Those whowonder so meaninglessly and unanswerably ,"Why are we here and what is this al lfor?" are asking the wrong questions .We do better by simply immersing our-selves in the stupifying wonder of theworld as it is in its everyday diversity

and by looking at it from different ang-les",-such as from the air and from theground . ; Why should it be this way an dnot that:? It's hard to appreciate thewhole incredible thing, but I think we'vegot to '"try . A delightful airplane helps .

After 47 minutes of circling in up-currents for altitude and shooting downalong the freeway in the clearest weathe rthat ever existed Chino is in sight ."Chino Airport 1JL inbound at the traile rpark 5 miles East ." "One Jay Ell cleare dfor straight in approach runway 26 reportover the wash . "

"How as the trip? "I recognize my brother Mark's voice ."Nice, I'll be up for coffee an d

tell you about it . "I did my standard turning flittin g

drop to the runway and turned up th etaxiway to my hangar . I pulled off th egas a few hundred feet away from the doorand coasted in, opening the canopy forthe last cooling little breeze . I satfor a few minutes smiling inside thenreluctantly climbed out to open the doorsand hangar the plane .

1ST EUROPEAN MOTORGLIDINGCHAMPIONSHIPS - 1978

The SSA has received informationfrom the German Aero Club on a EuropeanMotorgliding Championship, to be held a tBurg Feuerstein from May 28 through June10, 1978 . Pilots from other continent sare also welcome and the U .S . has beeninvited to enter our top pilots . Invi-tation and General Regulations, and Pre-liminary Rules are printed below . I finterested, write SSA for more informa-tion .

Invitation and General Regulations

1 . Purpose :

The purpose of the Championships is :1 .1 to stimulate the development o f

motorgliding by an internationa lcomparison of performance of pilot sand motorgliders ;

1 .2 to promote the technical developmentand design of motorgliders ;

1 .3 to reinforce friendship amongst mo-torglider pilots of different na-tions .

2. Organizer :

2 .1 Organizer of the event is the Ger-man Aero-Club e .V .

2 .2 The gliding center "FraenkischeFliegerschule Feuerstein e .V ." hasbeen appointed to carry out th eevent .

3. Dates and Place :

3 .1 The event will take place betwee nMay 28 and June 11, 197 8

3 .1 .1 Practice week (not compulsory )May 22 to May 2 7

3 .1 .2 Opening ceremony May 27, 20 :00 hrs .3 .1 .3 Competition Flights May 28 t o

June 103 .1 .4 Closing ceremony and prizegivin g

June 10, 20 :00 hrs .3 .1 .5 Departure of participants June 1 13 .2 The event will be held at the air -

field "Feuerstein" near Nuremberg ,Federal Republic of Germany 49° 47 '45" N ; 110 08' 06" E

4 . Motorglider Classes :

4 .1 Self-launching motorgliders will b e

11

admitted only .4 .2 There will be 3 classes :4 .2 .1 Class 1 (standard) : Single-seater s

with not more than 15 m span .4 .2 .2 Class 2 (open) : All other single -

seaters not covered by clasxs ``l .4 .2 .3 Class 3 (Two seaters) : All two-

place motorgliders . They must b eflown with 2 persons on board .

4 .3 Classes may be combined if less than6 entries in one or the other class_are made .

5. Competing Pilots

5 .1 All competing pilots must be membersof a national Aero-Club .

5 .2 The change of a pilot during th echampionships is not allowed .

5 .3 The pilots have to fulfill the fol-lowing requirements :

5 .3 .1 FAI sporting licens e5 .3 .2 FAI silver badge5 .3 .3 Motorglider license or equivalen t

permit .5 .4 There is no limitation as to th e

number of pilots entered by theNAeCs, but the organizer may limitthe entries if they exceed the num-ber of 50 . In such a case the basi sfor limitation will be the chronolo-gical order of entries .

6. Rules :

The event will be carried out in com-pliance with the Sporting Code, Sec-tion 3, Class D . The English versionis authoritative .

7. Competition Tasks :

7 .1 All tasks will be speed task s7 .2 The following tasks may be set :

7 .2 .1 Straight goal flights7 .2 .2 Out-and-return flight s7 .2 .3 Triangular flights7 .3 The tasks will be set at the dail y

briefings .

8. Competition Numbers :

All competitors are asked to send inthe competition numbers of thei rmotorgliders as early as possibl e(questionnaire, entry form or form-less) . In case of two or more com-petitors wanting the same number, itwill be given to the first applicant .

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9. International Jury :

9 .1 All national teams shall designat eone delegate as a member of the In-ternational Jury .

9 .2 The chairman will be elected by openvote at the opening briefing .

10. Scoring :

10 .1 All competition flights will b escored using the "Scoring System"attached to this invitation .

" 10 .2 Winners and European MotorgliderCh anpions will be the pilots gainin gthe highest amount of total point sin their classes, taking togetherall competition days in the respec-tive classes .

10 .3 The pilots of German nationalityscoring the highest number of pointswill be German Champions .

11. Entries :

11 .1 Entry opening date : October 1, 1977Entry closing date : March 31, 1978

11 .2 Entries have to be made with theofficial entry forms, a copy ofwhich is joined to this letter ofinvitation . Further entry forms canbe obtained from the Deutscher Aero-Club (address see under 14) .

11 .3 For preliminary information pleas efill in the questionnaire (attached )and send it to the Deutscher Aero-Club (address see under 14) untilAugust 31, 1977 at the latest .

12. Entry Fees :

12 .1 The entry fee for one pilot includ-ing one motorglider and crew i s

250 . - DM . It covers all organi-zation costs .

12 .2 Payment of the entry fee has to b emade together with the submissio nof the entry form but not laterthan March 31, 1978 .Bank account :Deutscher Aero Club e .V .Deutsche Bank, Frankfurt/Mai nKonto Nr . 791-1241 BLZ 5007001 0Please specify "Motorglider 1978"and name of pilot .

12 .3 The entry fee will be forfeited i f

neither the pilot nominated nor asubstitute takes part in the event .

12 .4 All other costs as accommodation ,

food, fuel, etc . will have to b epaid by the participants directly .

13 .

Accommodation and Food

13 .1 Momentary costs for accommodatio nand food are :

13 .1 .1 Full board double room DM 26 . -/day/persondormitory DM 23 . -

13 .1 .2 Bed/breakfast double room DM12 .50dormitory DM 10 . -

13 .2 There are nice and low-price hotel sand restaurants in the vicinity o fthe airfield .

13 .3 Camping facilities on the airfiel d(DM 3 .-/day/caravan or tent )

13 .4 Breakfast-lunch-dinner possible i nthe airfield restaurant

14. Correspondence :

Until March 31, 1978 please sendall mail toDeutscher Aero-Club e .V .- Motorsegler -Postfach 710 12 3600 Frankfurt/Main 71

15. Special Rules :

The organizer will publish specia lrules in the "Regulations" . Theywill be forwarded to the partici-pants after their questionnaire shave been received, but not late rthan Oct . 1, 1977 .

16. Cancellation :

The event may be cancelled by theorganizer due to force majeur orbecause the number of entries re-ceived is too small . In such a cas ethe entry fee will be returned .

Deutscher Aero Club e .V .

Gunther Grav von HardenbergPresident

Fred Weinholt zChairman of the Gliding-Boar d

Preliminary Rule s

1 . Scoring Formula :

Daily points : (1000 - (Tpil - Tbest )- (TM x 15) ) f, where

Tpil = Flying time of the competi -tor

Tbest = Flying time of the fastes tpilot

TM

= Time of engine running be-tween start line and finishline

f

= 1 for TM = 0 minutesf

- 90100TH for TM more than 0minutes

. Index List :

To guarantee a certain amount ofequal chances within the classes, th eofficial Index List of the GermanAero-Club will be applied in eachclass . The expression (Tpil - Tbest )is multiplied by the index factor o fthe motorglider in question . TheIndex List can be obtained from th eDeutsche.-Aero-Club, but it will als obe published in the final rules .

3 . Further Rules :

3 .1 The pilot must cross the start lin enot later than 30 minutes after histakeoff . He is allowed to cross th estart line 3 times, but a new takeoffis required before each crossing .The organizer must specify takeof fperiods .

3 .2 The finish line must not be crosse dunder 200 m above ground .

3 .3 A competition day is only valid if atleast one pilot in the class has ob-tained at least 500 points .

3 .4 Evidence of turning points will b efrom photographs according to Sport-ing Code Section 3, Class D, 2 .7 ,2 .7 .1 and 2 .7 .2a) . Paragraph 2 .7 .2b)and chapter 6 .A .1 are not applicable .

3 .5 All motorgliders must carry a baro-graph registrating the engine runnin gtime by transmitting the engine vi-brations to the barogram .

3 .6 Guests are invited to participate i nthe event irregularily, several o fthem may share one motorglider . Theywill, however, not be scored offici-ally .

The final rules will be published i nthe "Regulations" (see Invitation 15) .If there are any wishes or suggestions ,please let us know before the 31st ofAugust 1977 .

/S/ Gerd Stoll eChampionships Director

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Motorglidingc/o The Soarin gP .O . Box 66071Los Angeles, Cal

TO MOTORGLIDING SUBSCRIBERS

A very sincere thank you is extende dto all the subscribers of Motorgliding .You have uncomplainingly borne with ou rproblems of not maintaining a regula rproduction schedule .

I want to personally thank presen teditor Don Monroe who took over the un-paid editorship position to assist me an dfor which we are most grateful . Only fo rthe last few issues has the editor posi-tion been 'paid' and that at a very lo wrate .

In any event, although I feel thatMotorgliding is a natural, separate pub-lication for SSA to publish (its ove r1000 subscribers compare favorably t oSoaring's distribution of 25 years ago) ,we are terminating publication effectiv ewith the next issue . While Soaring wil lnot publish all the material that Motor-gliding did, it will contain a growin gamount of material on motorgliders . Itis appropriate here to acknowledge ourgreat appreciation to you Motorglidingauthors, columnists and advertisers whohave so unselfishly provided the neces-sary material without which there woul dbe nothing . Please do keep sending ma-terial into SSA . Doug Lamont will exer-cise normal editorial prerogative in se-lecting material to use in Soaring.

All subscribers will receive a re-fund for the unexpired portion of thei rsubscription . This will amount to aslittle as 42¢ for domestic subscriber swith only one month left to over $6 .00for longterm subscriptions . The averagewill be under $2 .00 to be refunded .14

Should anyone for whatever reason not b esatisfied with the procedure, please ad-vise us immediately with a stamped self-addressed envelope and we shall attemp tto accommodate .

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$750.00 . Arch Schoch, Jr ., Box 1893 ,High Point, N .C . (919) 883-7151 (day) .

DESIGNING & BUILDING your own aux-iliary-powered sailplane and in need o fsound engineering advice? For free de-tailed information send a self-addresse dstamped envelope to : Amtech Services-mg ,RD 8, Mansfield, Ohio 44904 .

MOTORGLIDER RECORD

FAI has approved the following worl dmotorglider record: multiplace, gain o fheight, 3428 meters, by Dieter Mayr ,pilot, of Germany, and Frank Adler, pas-senger, in a Schleicher AS-K 16, on March22, 1977 .