The Thief, Andrew Luton, lives the dream and combines two of his many passions. marshmallows and questionable fashion….

Sorry, two of his other passions, ballooning and hang gliding!

It’s been more than 10 years since any hangie has experienced this sinking feeling but the months of preparation certainly paid off.

Check out the cool videos.

Day 2 video

Get on to Twitter. It’s where a lot of the flying talk is happening these days you will be missing out on the flying action if you are not on board. I even got retrieved after a tweet the other day. How’s that for service!

Just to get started, follow the local guys on the Dusty Demons list. From there, you will get the idea and start to work out who else to follow.

A reasonably smart phone is the best way to use Twitter. Most phone operating systems have applications to run twitter. If you will be accessing it from a PC there are also many clients available. I use TweetDeck which I find quite nice.

If it all seem to complicated, ask any of the guys who are currently on there and I’m certain they will be able to get you setup in no time.

It appears that the organizers of the classic have “over looked” the now common practice of uploading the competition area controlled airspace into competitors instruments. This omission leans the odds greatly in favor of the local pilots who deal with the exact locations on these areas on a day to day basis.

Maybe Attila has a point?

Luckily though, the punters have come through and posted the airspace files on the Canungra Cup website. Whack these files into each of you instruments and we might even be able to give those local boys a run for their money without getting smashed with airspace penalties this year.

I take no responsibility for the data being correct so don’t come to me if you get zero for the day because of using these files – I probably got zero too.

Also, their map seems to be a bit better than ours so grab that as well.

Good luck!

What are you strapping to your head? Ed is up with another review:

I wanted to get a new full-face helmet as a recent heavy landing had jammed my sunnies onto my face, causing a pretty bad cut above my eye. It made me realise that sunnies aren’t the best solution for hang gliding – goggles or visors would be better.  I had ordered one full face helmet from a manufacturer in Germany who never sent it (I’ll be doing a separate article on that one – long story short – Paypal found in my favour and sent me a notice saying what could best be summarised as ‘good luck getting your money back – we couldn’t'). The choices from REPUTABLE manufacturers seemed to be the Icaro or the Charly, and I preferred the shape of the Icaro.

For a number of reasons I was inclined NOT to go a longtail helmet. A lot of my friends have the Icaro 4Fight Longtail and I noticed that when ever I saw them flying they almost never seemed to have their head in the correct aerodynamic position for the helmet – negating the supposed main advantage of getting one. Arguably, it really doesn’t matter until you are on glide, however I started to notice that even when I’m on glide I tend to be moving my head around quite a bit, looking over at the vario and keeping a look out. I’ve also had concerns with the idea of having something so long hanging off my head that if it got caught on something during a bad landing etc that the leverage effect on my neck could be fatal. Furthermore, the tail looks like it has the potential to limit visibility by limiting how far up you can look before the tail jams on the top of the harness. So for all these reasons I opted for a ‘cut’. Much of my flying is in darn hot conditions so after much deliberating I opted for the Grid Cut as it has ventilation holes.  I also love the matt black. I asked for the darkest visor they have which was the blue one.

So how does it stack up. It is expensive (about $420AUS delivered), it is very noisy, the paint scratches off pretty easily but it looks great and I love it. The ventilation works well and works when you need it the most – waiting to take-off (either the hill or in line to tow) and when scratching down low. For those of you who might be concerned about getting a cold head – my head has never felt cold in the helmet, even flying in Canberra during winter.

Of course non of these factors are reasons to buy a helmet – after all it is first and foremost a safety device. So when Trent met the ground pretty hard out at the Forbes comp wearing his 4Fight Longtail I was impressed when I saw how well his helmet worked. The helmet itself seemed to survive quite well but most importantly – Trent’s head fared very well considering the speed that he impacted the ground.

I DO have a real problem with the price – I could pony-up once for the $420 but the problem would really come to the fore if I were to have a ‘minor’ accident in the helmet. At $420 it would be very tempting to just keep using the helmet, which is obviously not wise.

My other main gripe is the noise, which is annoying and makes it difficult to hear the vario. I have a Brauniger GPS/Comp vario and I can barely hear it most of the time, but particularly on glide where I find I am constantly looking over at the vario because I just can’t hear it. I do seem to have gotten used to the low volume and my ears seem more atuned to the the vario for the most part – but glide is still a problem.

Soon after purchasing the helmet it developed some marks in the paint – it was as if the paint layer had been scraped off (a bit like a Scratch Lottery ticket). This was disappointing as you expect more from such an expensive helmet. The 4Fights have a lacqured/sealed finish that this just couldn’t really happen to but for some reason the Grids don’t.

I have found the visor takes a bit more maintenance to keep clean than my previous solution – sunnies. When I first got the helmet I’d put it on just before I was going to launch but after a few incidences where the visor was particularly dirty I have developed the habit of checking the visor as part of my pre-flight, while I still have easy access to cleaning devices.

I do really like the helmet but would have to think twice before buying another one as they are just so expensive. One every 5 years – yes, one every year – no. At least from a price perspective, it’s hard to go passed the Charly. If anyone out there has a really quite helmet I’d love to hear about it.

Cheers

Ed

Arrh winter, time to sort out all your gear for the next epic season. Ed get us underway with a couple of articles about the gear he’s flying with:

For the most part, most hang glider pilots seem to have their gear pretty well sorted, except for their bloody radio set up. Many pilots seem to be perfectly happy to get around the sky with really crappy comms. One local pilot in particular tends to get extremely excited in the air and wants to tell everyone all about it – and all we hear is ‘muffle, muffl, muffle, muffle’ screamed over the radio – I think you get the point. It drives me nuts. For some reason most pilots don’t seem to put much effort into their comms. I guess it’s because they never have to listen to themselves – their crappy comms are always someone else’s problem. I guess this will be true until the day they outland in an area without mobile coverage and no one knows where the hell they landed.

Well during last winter I upgraded my helmet to an Icaro Grid Cut and needed a new radio headset to connect it to my radio. I just happened to have a couple of days off work sick at the time which I spent in bed – and searching the web for the best value headset I could find. The best one I found was the XHH750C – available from ‘ixcessory’ (http://www.ixcessory.com/Merchant/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=I&Product_Code=2WS-HH750C&Category_Code=XHH750C). I’ve now had it for nearly 12 months and this is what I’ve found.

Price

The unit  was the cheapest I could find by a significant margin, priced at just $43.90US for the basic headset and $63.90 US for the 2-way-switcher model (more about that below).

Modular

The headset is very modular and the basic model comes with 4 functional components:

• the helmet fittings (2 speakers and a mic),
• the chest volume/press-to-talk (PTT) switch,
• the radio specific connector,
• and the finger PTT switch

The X2WSRM 2-way-switcher model includes the above as well as a:

• 2 way switch that allows you to connect an iPod into the system so you can listen to music through your helmet during flight. The iPod sound comes through the speakers however when receiving a radio call it cuts out the iPod so you can hear the incoming transmission. There is also an on/off button to mute the iPod during flight for busy times (like take-off and landing) 
  

All of the components can be purchased individually quite cheaply. The kit comes in both full-face and open-faced versions (the open-face version includes a boom mic). The chest PTT has a volume button so that volume can be adjusted in flight. The radio connector (tail) must be specified for your particular radio so if you change radio models a new one to suit your new radio can be purchased (quite cheaply). The kit also includes a choice of 4 remote PTT buttons. I chose the finger PTT, however you can also choose a handlebar PTT, a plunger PTT or a line control PTT. The line control PTT looks very cool and provides access to volume and other functionality on a finger PTT. I didn’t opt for this one as I thought that it might be too ‘fiddley’ and get annoying in flight – having to locate the specific button or hitting the wrong button (in hindsight I wish I’d had a go at it and will probably get it on my next headset).

I have only used the 2 way switcher twice to hook up my iPod Shuffle and it made for two very enjoyable flights out at Lake George listening to music quietly in the background. I did a pretty untidy top landing out there at the end of the first flight (bent upright) which I think having the music on may have contributed to so I’ve been very careful about when I use it ever since. I think it’s best used judiciously – after take-off and not during landing.

Quality

When I first ordered the XHH750C it looked so good and was so cheap that I figured that something had to be wrong with it. After 12 months of use I can say that it is an excellent headset that is well suited to hang gliding. I’ve not had any problems with any of the components. Installation into my helmet was easy and took little more than 10 minutes. I did end up modifying the chest PTT as it had a metal clip that didn’t suit the way I wanted to mount it onto my harness, so I had to cut it off (I have a Moyes Contour harness and I have mounted the chest PTT onto my velcro patch just below the tow point – it is mounted with some permanently mounted elastic cord and velcro glued onto the back of the PTT). The only problem that I’ve had with the system was that the two connectors into the chest PTT (the finger PTT and the helmet connector) both look similar but have different pins so I nearly broke them soon after installation when I tried to join the wrong ones. To be safe you’d be best to paint the matching connectors in unique colours so that it’s impossible to join the wrong ones.

If you have problems with your in flight communications (as judged by feedback from those who have to listen to your static filled ramblings) then take the move and get an XHH750C – it’s a quality, low cost solution.

Safe flying

Ed

A little test of the ACTHPA Oregon Scientific camera. Edited in half an hour (and it looks like it)

Peter Bowyer forwarded this info re the Brauniger Compeo+ (Flytec 6030):

We are glad to inform you about our new high-end instrument IQ-COMPEO+ ( HG and PG version ). Even it’s basing on the former COMPEO, it was complete new designed and provides latest controller and GPS technology. Optional features are a SD – slot for memory cards and Bluetooth technology for an easy handling of any data transfer.

The new high precision speed pressure sensor now allows a TAS speed indication up form 20 km/h!

The case is designed comparable to the famous IQ-ONE series and is as rugged and highly comfortable to use.

Here some highlights:

Exclusive, elegant, slim and functional design

High-resolution graphic display ¼ VGA

• Precision pressure sensors for ultimate precision in height and speed and a sensible and adjustable vario
• All Menu positions are easy to be actuated by 4 central keys, individual Settings are prompted via 2 “softkey”. Important functions are directly accessible
• Easy entry of target co-ordinates/ COMPETITION-routes via PC or manually.
• The IQ COMPEO+ provides a perfect simulation mode which allows for testing and trying of nearly all functions
• Flight memory for up to 290 hours.
  
• For each flight are recorded: GPS-position with height, barometric height, TAS, GPS-speed over ground, time.
• USB interface to the PC.

As you can see from the picture the display looks very similar to the 5030 but that is where the similarity ends. The 6030 sports a completely new circuit board and faster CPU. The firmware, at least for the first release, is similar to the 5030 but there is new functionality planed for the future. We will have the 6030 at the Worlds for some real world testing and if everything goes well we should see some initial production units in September. A Brauniger version named the Compeo+ will also be available soon.

Some of the improvements:

Physical:

Less bulky – about 30% smaller than the 5030
User replaceable batteries.
User replaceable pitot tube
Memory card slot
All ports have rubber covers

Batteries:

Two banks of two AA cells (alkaline or rechargeable)
Auto-switching from bank one to bank 2
Two built-in chargers with individual status LEDs– will charge both banks at the same time regardless of charge state of either bank.
Precise battery status shown during power-up and power down (in addition to battery status shown in run mode)

Airspeed

New pitot pressure sensor gives much greater speed range (12-180mph /20-300kph)!
Will read airspeeds for paragliding through sailplanes

Keypad

Improved key allocation eliminates need for “Next function” scrolling
Speaker hole no longer penetrates keypad – should provide better keypad durability
button presses are more responsive

Interface

Bluetooth connection to cell phone for real-time position reporting and plotting (soon)
USB download/upload

Operation

“Next function” scrolling eliminated
Analog vario on map page
Text now in multiple languages
Improved Menu structure