TEAM B pilot and part-time WikiLeaks reporter Jack Black gives us the low-down on the latest wings flying (and falling out the sky) at the PWC Superfinal in Valle.
Pilots might be especially interested in his comments on Blozone's Gonzo, the IcePack-6 and the new Jin-X wings.
The names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Quote:
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Dear Big-Wide-World,
After a week of flying here in Valle de Bravo in full on racing conditions I can offer some perspective...plz remember this is my own.
Yesterday saw a few more events which helped solidify my feelings. Following several reserves/incidents in the preceding days, notable events I'm familiar with for yesterday (there were others) being 2 JinX's falling out of the sky with one ending under reserve and the other, an excellent pilot, cascading 800 meters with a clean glider but unable to restart the glider with normal inputs - it finally started flying again at the last possible moment.
With full on racing conditions we've had much of the time, the majority of gliding is being done on full bar and everyone has done everything they can to optimize their speed systems. You can imagine that pilots are trying various measures to eek out even the smallest additional speed. Yesterday they put the ESS directly in the afternoon lee/rotor of C Gordo with a 1k cylinder which wasn't the best call by the tc and many pilots got worked diving in there. Nik Papadopolopolis was full bar in there on his Gonzo and was trying something with his risers to get a bit more and blew up with a big cravat/spiral/full stall/cascade and unable to restart then reserve with strong downplane and scary high speed tall tree crash falling 30 feet shredding his glider. We were all quite relieved that he was ok and able to spin it humorously as only Nik can do.
Two days ago Lucky D'Nini, one of the planets most skilled and experienced pilots was ACRO deep stalling his Gonzo over the lake after making goal and ended up under reserve and in the trees up the hill a bit from the LZ, again, unable to get things sorted out and restarted
Both the Gonzo's and the IcePack-6's are gliding quite well and are rock solid on speed through all kinds of turbulence. The Jin pilots are really struggling because they don't glide as well at trim and are nowhere near as efficient while trying to speed through turbulence. They are constantly pitching and having to come off bar because it's difficult to effectively control the gliders with the risers. There was all kinds of hype when we got here about the Jin and how it turned so well it would easily climb right up through other gliders.. This of course ended up being total BS and of course it climbs nice but doesn't stand out. Several of the same pilots are now disappointed in the overall performance of the glider saying its not so good for racing but good only for recreational flying. The current results tend to support this but of course it's early in the comp and things may change.
The IcePack-6 has had some healthy factory quality control issues which showed up in several gliders after the first few warmup days. This was evidenced by dimples discovered by nearby pilots on the top surface in various locations. Some were temporarily sorted out by cutting and taping internal cross bracing... Another IcePack-6 took a full frontal (before the comp started) and broke some A lines then reserve. It was thought that they were possibly improperly looped at the riser attachment point and burned through at the first shock loading of the glider.
The Gonzo is an AreTen-Two with restricted speed and a small C cascade which seems to
make it launch easier. The B handles allow top efficiency while speeding on glide through all kinds of turbulence. Unlike the AreTen-Two and AreLeven, the Gonzo will spin (and apparently do a nice helicopter spin according to Joss yesterday) if pushed too hard while thermalling, but the spin authority is quite good and this has produced no problems that I'm aware of.
The IcePack-6 has very successfully incorporated much of the AreLeven's leading edge shark nose. It's flying very nicely and pilots are able to keep it coordinated while accelerated through turbulence. The certification was showing it quite a bit faster than the Gonzo and again many pilots were talking about how they were going to school us on glide..... Again, this never materialized and the gliders seem dead even IF you get every cm of speed out of your system. If you're half a turn behind someone when you leave the last thermal then you will hit the ESS 10k later the same distance behind them if you've both managed the glider equally through turbulence and stayed mostly pulley to pulley.
I guess what you can take from this is that any of these gliders may be difficult or impossible to restart if things go bad. Many Blozone pilots, myself included, are convinced that the best and safest all around racing glider is at home. While the risks of full speed blowouts are clear on the AreLeven/BoomBoom8, it appears that all 4 of the gliders we are flying here are also at risk of being unrecoverable if things go bad. Blozones website warning on the Gonzo is spot on and Jin and Nov-yuk should do the same. Why not fly the AreLeven which glides better, handles better, and is much less likely to break/stall/spin than the gliders we've been forced on to by the events of last summer?
It's been very typical Valle full on racing with great conditions, great pilots, and plenty of carnage with fortunately no serious injuries... The way things are going I'm sure there will be boat loads of data to summarize and sort through when this is finished....
J Black
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So there you have it folks. If it's dirt you want, we got it.
And it's nice to know that, during these turbulent times, all is back to normal with the top-dogs. Yes, they're still falling out the sky on a regular basis...
The internet !
Once the Pope's out the bottle, he'll be shittin' in the woods till doomsday.
[ WTF? - Ed ]
Pie in the Sky
Funnier than the 1908 "Louis Bleriot Tree-Landing" helmet cam video
