World Gliding Championships in New Zealand, 1995

This information was pulled off rec.aviation.soaring.

Article: 4549 of rec.aviation.soaring
Path: cfanews!hsdndev!news.starnet.net!wupost!waikato!news.midland.co.nz!roake.gen.nz!user
From: John@roake.gen.nz (John Roake)
Newsgroups: rec.aviation.soaring
Subject: WORLD GLIDE 95 - BULLETIN NO 5
Followup-To: rec.aviation.soaring
Date: Wed, 04 Jan 1995 06:40:28 +1200
Organization: Midland Internet Limited - Hamilton, New Zealand
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NNTP-Posting-Host: roake.gen.nz

The following is an unedited statement from the manager of French team on
the Nimbus 4 accident of yesterday.

Gerard is one of the most experienced and competent pilots in this
championship and has flown in wave throughout the world...so it shows that
even if you are a very experienced pilot you can be trapped and caught by
the wave  conditions.
Yesterday the clouds were moving very quickly and growing very quickly and
the reason for the conditions being very different from what we know in
Europe because of the humidity and moisture in your country because your
country is an island with sea around it  so I would like to say to pilots
that when they cross the wave system they must have more safety altitude
above the wave when crossing because in one minute the look of the cloud
system can change and grow and move and also the lift is very good in this
country but the descent is very strong and the wind is very strong and when
you fly against the wind with very strong descent your glide angle is very
small and much less than you expect when flying in normal conditions...my
first advice

My second advice is  that due to the turbulence in this type of weather the
pilots have not to forget the tuburlence can be very very strong and also
they must think of the speed limit in turbulence of their glider even when
they are flying in clear skies, they can meet very strong turbulence and it
is important to remind all of them.

Also because they are in competition a midair collision is always possible
and because also with the weather conditions at high altitudes the glider
can go during the flight, I want to remind all competitors that when they
put on their parachutes they must think that maybe they will have t o use
them, so it is important that they go through a mental drill and a mental
briefing that if today I have to bail out I will have to pull on
this..etc....they must mentally prepare for the possibility of an ejection.

Finally I would like to thank the organisation for its professionalism and
rapid response to the search and rescue of our pilot and I also extend my
sincere thanks to all those on the airfield who gave their support and
solidarity to our team after the crash and we were very touched by this
proof of support.

The most important thing is that Gerard Lherm will be able to fly in the
world championships and we hope that this difficult experience he went
through will be a salutary lesson to every pilot taking part in this
championship...everyone  must learn.

ENDS
JANUARY  3
The  day got progressively worse  from  1000 hours , with a major
improvement starting at 1400 hours.  A new  reduced practice task was set,
and it turned out to be  a  totally thermal day  (Surprise Surprise). 
Times recorded were exceptional and the faith in Omarama as a thermal
soaring site was restored. Cloud base was 10,000 feet. Thermals strengths
up to 12 knots.  Results not available as I post this, but 50 or more
completed the course.



-- 
John H Roake
From the World  Gliding Championship site,  OMARAMA, NEW ZEALAND
Phone ++64-3-438-9482 
Fax        ++64-3-438-9479 

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