June – July 2004
If you fly gliders in the UK, you must be aware of the looming shadow of European legislation, even if the precise details remain obscure. This issue of S&G aims to answers some frequently-asked questions about the new European Aviation Safety Agency … and holds out the hope that, for the first time since this whole process started, your and your club’s lobbying could make a difference. To find out how, read the article, and then keep an eye on the BGA website and newsletter in early July.
From Europe to the world – twice world champion Andy Davis met a difficult deadline to share his tips for enjoying your first gliding competition. He says that it’s meant for beginners but might serve as useful revision for the more experienced pilot. Expect to seehuddles of competitors poring over copies behind the caravans on scrubbed days, then. And while we’re talking about the UK contest season, former junior world champion and Club Class Team member Jay Rebbeck offers us a preview of what’s happening at national and international level in 2004.
This issue isn’t just for square-jawed, gimlet-eyed competitors, though. If you prefer your gliders wooden, we have a super story from the 1930s of the world’s first goal record, flown in a Rhönsperber, as well as Jochen Ewald’s fly-and-compare accounts of the one airworthy original Rhönsperber and a lovingly-crafted replica of this once-common type. And it’s all aboard the Skylark for Sally Longstaff – a dream-come-true tale of how one aspiring cross-country pilot was given her own glider.
Finally, the June-July 2004 issue of S&G would not be complete without a profile of someone who has beenimmensely influential in our sport: retiring BGA Secretary Barry Rolfe (pictured with the BGA Gold Medal he was awarded for exceptional services to gliding). Gillian Bryce-Smith, editor of S&G from the early 1970s until six years ago, interviews Barry about his time at the BGA and all at S&G join her in wishing him a very happy retirement.
Helen Evans
Editor, Sailplane & Gliding
Aeros before solo
Experienced paraglider pilot and sailplane ab initio Fiona Dalzell just can’t see the point in flying straight and level…
33 years of service
Gillian Bryce-Smith, editor of Sailplane & Gliding from 1973 to 1998, talks to Barry Rolfe on his retirement after 33 years as Secretary of the British Gliding Association
How EASA affects you
David Roberts and Terry Slater answer 20 FAQs about the new European Aviation Safety Agency and explain how, for the first time, you could make your voice heard in Europe this summer
The racing season
Jay Rebbeck gives a personal view of what’s hot and what’s not in the coming season’s comps – at home and abroad
A glider of my own
18-year-old Sally Longstaff is looking forward to doing her Silver this year – in a glider that was a gift from a kind donor. One day it might even be yours
Enjoy your first comp
Andy Davis, winner of two Standard Class Gold Medals at world level, draws on the successful British team training programme and on his own experience for tips to help you
BGA 75th anniversary – the Rhönsperber
Early UK gliding was inspired by events abroad, including, in 1935, the first declared goal flights. In August that year, Erwin Kraft took the world record – 206 miles – in a Rhönsperber in Germany. We reprint his story, while Jochen Ewald describes what the “Sperber” is like to fly
Picking your fields on the internet
Who better to run a website about seasonal changes in crop fields than a glider pilot who’s also a farmer? Adrian Hatton updates us on the first three years of www.field-landings.co.uk
Before you take to the skies
Abby Nishio takes a light-hearted look at the first ritual you learn in gliding – the pre-flight checks
Salutary Soaring: Beware of the bugs
Degrade your polar, suggests our anonymous author, before it degrades you…
Salutary Soaring: the wires you don’t see
This anonymous contributor thought he knew just where the wires were as he approached his chosen outlanding field…
Also in this issue:
British Gliding Association and general news; your letters; BGA Development News; BGA Communications News – National Gliding Week; reviews; Gliding Gallery; club focus (Herefordshire GC); club news; obituaries; BGA Badges; incident and accident summaries
Tailfeathers: Plat drops a few more famous names and (at last) discovers another substitute for span. Or should that be “spam”?
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