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Gliding Competitions
Some of the pilots in the sport of gliding take part in gliding competitions. These are usually racing competitions, but there are also aerobatic contests and on-line league tables. History of competitions In the early days, the main goal was to stay airborne for as long as possible. However, flights could last for days and some pilots killed themselves by falling asleep. This type of duration contest was abandoned by 1939. From the earliest days of gliding there was also 'free distance' flying. Pilots launched themselves from a hill top, attempting to glide as far as possible. Once pilots learned to exploit ridge lift and thermals, flights could be extended further. Eventually they mastered flying from thermal to thermal, resulting in ever longer retrieves. As the pilots and gliders became better, the winner of a competition day might fly so far that they could not get back to the competition site for the next day. Turn-points were therefore used. Those pilots who m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grid AstonDown
Grid, The Grid, or GRID may refer to: Common usage * Cattle grid or stock grid, a type of obstacle is used to prevent livestock from crossing the road * Grid reference, used to define a location on a map Arts, entertainment, and media * News grid, used in communications/public relations Fictional entities * Grid (comics), a fictional character in the DC Comics Universe * Grid (Jotun), Gríðr, a giantess in Norse mythology * The grid, the virtual environment of the game ''Second Life'' * ''The Grid'', the computerized virtual world in which the Tron franchise exists Games and gaming * Nvidia GRID, a cloud gaming platform for Nvidia Tegra products * ''Power Grid'', the English-language edition of the multiplayer German-style board game ''Funkenschlag'' * Grid (series), a series of racing video games developed by Codemasters * Spooks 3 Games - ''The Grid'', a video game based on the television show ''Spooks'' * ''The Grid'' (video game), a 2001 third-person shooter Music * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Airspace
Airspace is the portion of the atmosphere controlled by a country above its territory, including its territorial waters or, more generally, any specific three-dimensional portion of the atmosphere. It is not the same as aerospace, which is the general term for Earth's atmosphere and the outer space in its vicinity. Within the United States: * Controlled airspace exists where it is deemed necessary that air traffic control has some form of positive executive control over aircraft flying in that airspace (however, air traffic control does not necessarily control traffic operating under visual flight rules (VFR) within this airspace). Airspace may be further subdivided into a variety of areas and zones, including those where there are either restrictions on flying activities or complete prohibition of flying activities. Horizontal boundary By international law, a state "has complete and exclusive sovereignty over the airspace above its territory", which corresponds with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gliding
Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word ''soaring'' is also used for the sport. Gliding as a sport began in the 1920s. Initially the objective was to increase the duration of flights but soon pilots attempted cross-country flights away from the place of launch. Improvements in aerodynamics and in the understanding of weather phenomena have allowed greater distances at higher average speeds. Long distances are now flown using any of the main sources of rising air: ridge lift, thermals and lee waves. When conditions are favourable, experienced pilots can now fly hundreds of kilometres before returning to their home airfields; occasionally flights of more than are achieved. Some competitive pilots fly in races around pre-defined courses. These gliding competitions test pilots' abilities to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glider (sailplane)
A glider or sailplane is a type of glider aircraft used in the leisure activity and sport of gliding (also called soaring). This unpowered aircraft can use naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to gain altitude. Sailplanes are aerodynamically streamlined and so can fly a significant distance forward for a small decrease in altitude. In North America the term 'sailplane' is also used to describe this type of aircraft. In other parts of the English-speaking world, the word 'glider' is more common. Types Gliders benefit from producing the least drag for any given amount of lift, and this is best achieved with long, thin wings, a slender fuselage and smooth surfaces with an absence of protuberances. Aircraft with these features are able to soar – climb efficiently in rising air produced by thermals or hills. In still air, sailplanes can glide long distances at high speed with a minimum loss of height in between. Sailplanes have rigid wings and eithe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Competition Aerobatics
Competition aerobatics is an air sport in which ground-based judges rate the skill of pilots performing aerobatic flying. It is practised in both piston-powered single-engine airplanes and also gliders. An aerobatic competition is sanctioned by a national aero club, its designee, or in the case of international competitions, by CIVA, the Commission Internationale de Voltige Aerienne, which is a constituent body of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI). The sanctioning body establishes the rules that apply to the competition, including entry qualifications for all participants, operating procedures, and judging criteria. A pilot enters a competition in a ''category'' of his or her choice, which defines the level of difficulty of the aerobatic sequences to be flown. Within each category, a pilot flies one or more ''flight programs''. Each flight receives a total score from the judges; ranking each pilot's combined total scores for all flight programs within each ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aerokurier
''Aerokurier'' is a monthly magazine founded in 1957 covering international civil aviation published in the German language by Motor Presse Stuttgart, a large European publisher of special interest magazines. The magazine concentrates on the following subjects: * General aviation * Business aviation * Air sports * Gliding * Ultralight aviation * Flight training * Developments in aviation technology * Airports * Political topics concerning aviation ''Aerokurier'' is the principal sponsor of the Online Contest (OLC), a worldwide decentralized soaring competition for glider, hang glider, and paraglider Paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders: lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure. The pilot sits in a harness or lies supine in a cocoon-like ... pilots. References External links Official site* 1957 establishments in West Germany Aviation mag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grand Prix Gliding
FAI World Grand Prix Gliding Championships are gliding competitions promoted by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) for gliders that are both more spectacular and more easily understood by the public than conventional gliding competitions. Origins Gliding competitions existed before the Second World War but as the technologies evolved, the performance of the gliders has taken them away from the public view. Furthermore the scoring is complex and gliders can start at different times. Proposals were made in 1970 – Discussions between , ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cloud Street
Horizontal convective rolls, also known as horizontal roll vortices or cloud streets, are long rolls of counter-rotating air that are oriented approximately parallel to the ground in the planetary boundary layer. Although horizontal convective rolls, also known as cloud streets, have been clearly seen in satellite photographs for the last 30 years, their development is poorly understood, due to a lack of observational data. From the ground, they appear as rows of cumulus or cumulus-type clouds aligned parallel to the low-level wind. Research has shown these eddies to be significant to the vertical transport of momentum, heat, moisture, and air pollutants within the boundary layer. Cloud streets are usually more or less straight; rarely, cloud streets assume paisley patterns when the wind driving the clouds encounters an obstacle. Those cloud formations are known as von Kármán vortex streets. Characteristics Horizontal rolls are counter-rotating vortex rolls that are near ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Schempp-Hirth Nimbus-3
The Schempp-Hirth Nimbus 3 is a glider built by Schempp-Hirth. Design and development The Nimbus-3 uses carbon-fibre extensively and has a new wing profile compared with the Nimbus-2. It has a four-piece carbon-fibre wing with a 22.9 metre span but may be increased to 24.5 or 25.5 metres with tip extensions. The outer wing panels are slightly modified Ventus wings. When rolling at large aileron deflection, small spoiler flaps deploy at the inner wingtip to compensate for lack of rudder power. It was first flown on 21 February 1981 by its designer Dipl.-Ing Klaus Holighaus. A glide ratio of 60:1 has been claimed. The Nimbus-3T version has a sustainer engine. Nimbus-3s took the first three places in the Open Class in the 1981 World Gliding Championships although there were only 12 entrants. In the 1983 World Championships it took the top six places, and it won again in the 1985 Championships. The D-model (Nimbus-3D) is the two-seater version. There is also a self-launched t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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