Florida Dreaming - an Internet Romance
The Florida sun was already beating down. Even the sand that seemed to ooze up from what passes for grass down there was a dazzling white. Removing my sunglasses, I held my breath as I approached the open door. I was finally going to meet her. Would she be as beautiful as advertised. Were those sleek and elegant curves I had seen in a photo for real, or some bit of digital artistry? What about her personality? Would she be gentle, predictable and understanding as had been intimated? Soon, an Internet romance would come to fruition….
I had first met her on a German web-site of all places. Since then I had been taken by the elegance of both her and her sisters. I had studiously researched her and kept up a dialogue with those who knew her. I asked around a bit. As luck would have it, I discovered that she would arrive in Florida only two weeks before me. Perfect, we would meet at last.
I turned the corner and there she was, lying on her left side, beckoning invitingly. Spotless, immaculate, shiny and oh so large! My what a wingspan! She was such a tight fit for the hangar that they had removed her port winglet. Ah, there it was, stowed in a well-padded bracket on the wall. The hangar also contained an assortment of other sailplanes: there was a Libelle, an SZD and of course a couple DG-300s. There was no doubt, however, that the queen of this hangar was the DG-505 Orion!
Nearly four months of preparations had gotten me to this point. During the cold Canadian winter months I had taken to surfing the Internet for soaring-related information. Imagine my pleasure when I came upon the excellent web-site of DG Flugzeugbau. What a spectacular line of aircraft! Several of the “veteran pilots” at my home club are DG pilots and swear by this line of machines. I downloaded the DG-800S Pilot’s Operating Handbook and spent many happy hours digesting its every page during the Christmas holidays. OK, I admit to having Walter Mitty dreams like:
“There I was cocooned in my 800S. I think that I ‘ll order the Lufthansa Business Class leather interior. Oh yes, that control column with all of the flight computer buttons on it.. Got to have the NOAH system, it only makes sense… Now for performance… lets see.. I weigh 100Kg including the parachute. That leaves me a margin of 161 Kg of ballast. Its going to be a good soaring day so we’ll load 120 liters, don't forget the tail tank. Got to use that graduated cylinder… OK, I see that the ballast dumping actuators are idiot-proof. You have to dump the tail tank to get to the wing tanks. Clever that Mr. Dirks”.
I subsequently wrote away to the Eastern USA dealer of DG Flugzeugbau asking for information and details on these interesting sailplanes.
In the meantime, I learned that my ship would be visiting Jacksonville Florida on the way home from a deployment to the Caribbean. Again, using the Internet, I surfed the Soaring Society of America web-site and determined where the nearest soaring centre would be. This turned out to be the Seminole Lakes Glider port near Orlando. I sent off a quick E-Mail indicating my interest in flying there and was rewarded by receiving a very informative brochure a few weeks later. The biggest surprise was yet to come. On the heels of the brochure I received a personal letter from Knut Kjenslie – the owner operator of Seminole Lakes - announcing himself as the Eastern USA rep for DG. Knut also mentioned that he had just ordered a brand new DG-505 and that it was expected to arrive only two weeks prior to my arrival in Florida. P e r f e c t ! A plan immediately formed in my mind. After shoveling the snow off of my driveway one January afternoon I called Knut and asked if I could fly the 505 in mid-April. Knut said no problem and after discussing my needs and experience we booked two 1.5 hour family flights.
I returned to the DG Flugzeugbau website and soon downloaded the DG-505 manual. No Walter Mitty dreams for me this time. I was going to fly this machine! Once I had completed my download I surfed down to the “contacts” page and wrote the DG webmaster – some guy named "K.-F. Weber" - a note complementing him on his excellent web-site. I explained in my note that I had downloaded the 505 manual in preparation for my Florida vacation.
I guess that Mr Weber was impressed with my preparations for my flight and asked if he could publish my E-Mail in the DG Newsletter. “Certainly” I replied. A few weeks later I received my E-copy of Newsletter #16 and there, as promised, was my short E-Mail. I sniffed around the DG website some more and this name Weber kept coming up. Hmmmm…. A picture of the “webmaster” in his new DG-808B. Hmmmm… they must pay webmasters pretty well over there in Germany. Then it hit me… just like the old Remington shaver add… “he liked it so much, he bought the company!” No wonder the web-site is so good, he’s not just the webmaster, he’s the chief, Herr Director, the boss fellah!
Once my ship turned South I had lots of time to begin my review of the 505 manual. I memorized the cockpit layout, instrumentation and procedures. I calculated rough weights and wing loadings in order to determine critical speeds. These speeds were generated as a custom placard and committed to memory. Given my assumed wing loading and the speed polar I calculated final glides to arrive over the field at 1000 feet. Holy Cow… the first time that I crunched the numbers for a zero wind condition I got an altitude of 4100 feet for a glide in from 20 miles. Could this be right? I worked the numbers backwards and forwards and eventually convinced myself that, yes, my initial calculations were indeed correct. This glider was no ordinary two-seater!
Having sorted out the glide ratio.. it hit me while I was bouncing around out at sea. Glide ratio…44:1. I’m a novice and had only flown machines with L/D ratios under 30. I remembered that some of the fellows at the club fly an open Cirrus, a 40:1 machine that has a drag chute to get it down. In all of my preparations I had neglected to take into account the landing phase… how the hell was I going to get this beast down. The manual says that “ The very effective Schempp-Hirth dive brakes make a short landing possible. A slip is therefore not necessary as a landing technique”
Yeah right… you can’t believe everything you read now can you. What to do? I turned back to the Internet again and E-Mailed two of my Mentors; Dick Vine in Halifax the Cirrus owner, and John Bisscheroux a DG-202 owner in Montreal. “What was the technique to use” I wondered? “Do I fly a normal circuit but enter lower than usual or do I fly a larger circuit maintaining the same decision heights?” I received some good advice which essentially said, “do both” but Dick had some very sage advice: “keep the speed up in the far corner.”
I have always believed that it is important to have an objective for each and every flight. Since I was going to fly a high-performance machine with a seasoned instructor I decided to make the most of it and try my hand at cross-country flights. One of my final preparations was to make myself a map of central Florida. I had to paste two maps together to get the required coverage and then trim the result to a manageable cockpit I noted that size. One of my Army friends reminded me that one of Murphy’s laws of land combat is that “battles will most often be fought at the intersection between two maps” the reported position of the glider port was located in the midst of an expanse of “swamp or marsh” symbols on the map. “Great…” I thought. “How can you pick between the alligator infested swamps and the regular ones in the event of an out landing!” I also noted that Seminole Lake Glider port is located about 15 miles to the West of Disney World and EPCOT Center. Now that big silver geodesic would make a good turn point and would be unmistakable in any photo. I set about preparing myself a 100Km triangular task. East to Disney, Down to EPCOT, Southwest to a major road junction and then back home. I would practice the task on my first flight and then try to execute it with a minimum of intervention from the back on the second
Having tempted myself with the first tantalizing view of the 505 I withdrew and headed over to the office. Inside, I finally met up with Knut and we conducted the necessary paperwork. I had to chuckle when he asked me if I wanted to see the aircraft manual. “No” I said “I’ve been studying it courtesy of the Internet.” To dispel any lingering doubts Knut might have had I reviewed my speed placard with him. He seemed convinced and offered the glider port operations manual. I noted the circuit, entry points, frequencies and above all, the low-level military airway to West of the field… a definite keep-out zone.
About an hour later the lift had sufficiently developed and it was time to go. Knut and I extracted the DG-505 from her hangar. It took us about 30 seconds to rig and test the winglet and we were ready. We towed the gleaming white glider down to the end of the runway. Knut took another look at my 200+ pound frame and suggested that we roll the glider “back some more.” We were flying at about 85% of max all-up weight in a hot climate. I was all in favor of “back some more.” As the old saying goes, “runway behind you, altitude above you, and (for the motor gliders) gas in the tanker truck is no good.”
I stepped into the cockpit and slid into position. Now this was a comfortable seating position! I recognized the upgraded interior from my internet wanderings. Very nice. I placed my water bottle, map and camera securely and went through my pre-takeoff checks while the Piper Pawnee tug took position. Knut elected to perform the first takeoff which only makes sense given that the guy in the front had a whopping 1.5 hours solo. The takeoff run was longish and the acceleration less than I had been used to. I made note of the process. As we crossed various benchmark altitudes Knut briefed me on his “options” for rope break. Below 100 feet, straight ahead, 150 feet, left turn into that field over there, 250 feet straight ahead into that field next to the orange grove, much above that, 180 degree turn for a downwind landing. Lots of decent landing fields here; I wondered what had happened to the swamps?
Once above 250 feet Knut relinquished control to me. I took station behind the tug. I had been expecting this high-performance machine to be light and skittish on the controls. Nothing could have been farther from the truth. The aircraft had a solid, predictable feel and the tow was quite comfortable. The tow pilot brought us round to a decent patch of lift and I released at 2200 feet. We immediately began thermalling in plus 4 lift and climbed to 4000 feet. When Knut suggested that I close my airvent because of the drag I knew that I was in hands of a purist. After we had been thermalling some more Knut asked me where the glider port was. I pointed over my shoulder and said “over there, beyond the road” Knut merely said “OK”. Things were looking up, I had passed the “situational awareness” test. Knut gave some heading suggestions and I began threading my way East towards Mickey land.
The glider was very solid, predictable and easy to fly. After about 15 minutes of flight I was settled in and instinctively making coordinated turns. I was enjoying the benefits of an outstanding cross-country lesson courtesy of Knut. Disney world was looming on the horizon. Responding to Knut’s urgings to “fly faster” between thermals I overcame my unconscious reluctance to fly much above 60 knots and we started making ground to the East. Getting a bit cocky I pulled out my disposable camera and snapped a few one-handed “hero” shots. You know, determined, sun-baked, glider pilot banked over in a decent turn…. We arrived at EPCOT centre and there it was, the famous dome. I was keen to “practice” turn point pictures. Knut explained to me that there was this thing onboard called “GPS” and that we really didn't need to rely on outdated technology. "Humor me" I said… who would want some digital readout when you can have a picture, port wingtip and all. So over we went, and there I was banking steeply with one hand and taking a hand-held picture out the vent with the other. It says a lot about the stability and ease of handling of the DG-505 that a novice could quickly get comfortable enough to rack it over into steep turns while taking pictures. I even managed to get photographic proof of a perfectly straight yaw string!
Having done the Disney tour I banked the glider back to the West and we began making our way back towards the glider port. The object of this leg would prove to be a lesson in flying along cloud streets. Pull up under the clouds and go faster between them. Midway through this dolphining, Knut let me in on a secret… If I were to look at the digital instrument in the middle of the panel I’d see a bar and arrow display. Ahh Ha! So that’s one of those “flight computers” I’d heard about. Push the stick in the direction of the arrow until you got the bar back. This represents the most efficient, or MacReady speed to fly for whatever flight regime one happens to find themselves in. The display also gave a continuous readout of the height required to make a perfect final glide to home base (not to mention a bearing and range readout). Navigational information and vectors were similarly found in the …what else… Nav display. It was high-tech voodoo to me. Necessary, I suppose, in the modern world of competition. I was, however, vaguely reminded of the Eduardian description of the first submarines as “dammed ungentlemanly”.
As we approached the field we spotted a lone hang-glider thermalling and altered course to join him from above. I banked in at a 45 degree angle and flew in and out of lift. Despite having a perfectly obvious indication of where the core of the thermal was I could not quite center the lift. Slowly and inexorably the hang-glider grew closer from below as a result of my inefficiencies. Knut volunteered to take control and then tightened the turn considerably. Banked right over at 60 degrees we were holding our own with the hang-glider. After a few minutes of this display of the DG-505’s maneuverability we set course for a training area about a mile to the south of the glider port.
I wanted to explore the aircraft's slow-speed handling characteristics. I asked Knut how the aircraft side-slipped. I had remembered something about the rudder being sucked over to the displaced position from the POH. Knut replied that he didn't know since he hadn’t tried it yet! I looked out of the cockpit at those pristine 20 meter wings and wondered what the side loading would do to the winglets. Not being a test pilot and in the absence of any urging from the back seat I diplomatically moved on to stalls.
I would have to say that the most impressive part of the DG-505’s flight envelope is the stall regime. I flew the aircraft into a number of stalls and was amazed at how well-mannered and predictable the glider was. The approach to the stall was docile, but yet with enough buffet to let you know that you were headed for trouble. The aircraft didn't feel as if it were stalling in the usual sense…. it was more of a sensation of mush as the inner wing stalled while the outer airfoil and ailerons continued to work. Recovery was nearly instantaneous after releasing the back pressure on the stick and nudging it forward a bit.
Our flight was nearly up and it was now time to return to the airfield. The IP was the intersection of a bridge spanning a country road and the local highway. Ah… there it was 3000 feet below clearly outlined in white sand. Now all I had to do was scrub off 2000 feet. Sacrilegious I know, but out came the spoilers none the less and down we went. My thoughts returned to how I was going to land this glider and its efficient 44:1 wing… I’d have to really pay attention now. I entered the circuit at 1000 feet over the bridge and lined up on the county road beneath us that conveniently paralleled the runway. There’s no excuse for not making a perfectly rectangular circuit here!
I completed my checklist and watched the height as we flew the long downwind leg. I began assessing the relative positions of various key points. During training it had taken me a while to understand the “angles” method of setting up approaches. Eventually, I had figured it out and here I was putting it into practice on my first approach into a strange field. As I passed the landing point I noticed that there was no landing “T”. Hmmm… OK, not a problem just a few more “difficulty” points… altitude 650 feet… pay attention now, out spoilers. Turning to base was OK but while turning to final I got a bit slow as my attention shifted to lining up on the field. Damm! Stuff the nose down, speed up. I was fighting the aircraft a bit at this point but got her settled down and onto the glide path for my aiming point.
Knut mentioned something about “being low”. Funny; it seemed that we were descending nicely for the end of the runway. The mystery evaporated when Knut explained that he wanted me to land long at the other end of the runway. Ahh, yes of course, we were taking off in one direction and landing in the opposite. That way we’d be positioned at the business end of the runway in preparation for our next flight. IN spoilers, watch the speed, pick another landing point. My landing was gentle and the rollout uneventful. We opened the canopies and climbed out. I was pleasantly surprised at how comfortable the DG-505 is. After a 1.5 hour flight I was suffering from no fatigue whatsoever. What a great glider!
I was ecstatic as I walked back to the clubhouse. What a thrill! I could hardly wait to get back up for another flight. First though, I had to take care of some pressing business and then engage in a bit of dehydration. I had noticed a combined gas station, convenience store and Bar-B-Q restaurant just before the turnoff to the glider port. I headed off there in search of an air-conditioned lunch. As it would turn out, the restaurant was located just beside the bridge marking the circuit entry point. A good omen if there ever was one!
I returned to the airport refreshed and fed. I was excited about going up again. This time I would try to fly my 100 Km task. The DG-505 was waiting for me on the line. Knut and I briefed before entering the cockpit. We reviewed my map and Knut suggested that we amend the third waypoint to the Weeks Air Museum. OK, that would make Disney World, EPCOT Center, Weeks and then back home. As I conducted my walk around I noticed the aircraft's registration N505KK. Ahhh haa, now I get it "505" as in DG-505 and "KK" as in Knut Kjenslie. Nice to have some pull with the FAA. Reminds me of that Webmaster, Friedel Weber. It seems that there is a unique registration on a DG-808B at Oerlinghausen as well (D-KFWD)!
Preparations complete, we strapped in and I commenced my checklist. Just about ready to go and Knut asked me to close my cockpit vent. Was this man trying to cook me? First the side vent, now the nose vent. "OK" I responded "why is that"? Knut responded by explaining that this was to prevent dry grass from being blown in on the takeoff run. Vent closed we started the takeoff. We were rolling surrounded, as advertised, by the cloud of dry grass. "Now pay attention Yves" I said to myself as we gathered speed, "keep these big wings level and don't try to pull her off too early."
We lifted off without much effort and I held her just off of the ground while waiting for the tug to get airborne. I didn't have long to wait… moments later the Pawnee was up and we were off on my 100Km flight! "OK…above 150 feet, in case of rope break left turn into that field"…. moments later … "above 250 feet .. straight ahead into that field" I confirmed with myself. We soon turned to the East and began climbing. I released again at about 2200 feet in the vicinity of a turquoise-blue lake that was once a quarry. The lift this afternoon was a little tenuous compared to what we had found in the morning. We consequently spent a bit more time getting established and up to 4000 feet before heading off.
The flight to Disney World was much quicker this time and it seemed that we were there in no time… Once we'd arrived, we turned south towards EPCOT and began searching for lift. I was able to observe a steady flow of traffic in and out of the executive airport below us. I always get a special kick out of observing power traffic below me! I managed to get back up to 4000 feet and we were off again. South to EPCOT Center now. This time we were using the latest technology and the GPS began emitting a series of beeps as I approached the turn point. When I had closed to within 200 yards the beeping increased in frequency indicating that we had made the turn point. Over we went banking away to the southwest.
I now set my sights on the Weeks Air Museum some 20 miles away. The lift at 4000 feet was consistent and I flew towards the cloud streets that were conveniently oriented along my track. Once under the clouds I made good progress. I was getting the hang of this dolphining technique. One advantage of the flight computer I found was that of a teaching aid. The computer generated best-speeds-to-fly were faster than I intuitively wanted to fly. Pilots using this device would benefit from a computerized tutor and could compare their own instinctive assessments of speed to fly versus the flight computer's.
I continued my flight to the Southwest remaining between 3000 and 4000 feet. Given the lift today and the capabilities of the DG-505 I was certain that even I could have flown a 500Km task today…. and a 1,000Km task would not be out of the question sometime in the near future! It wasn't long before the Weeks Air Museum hove into sight ahead. I was concentrating on lining up precisely on the turn point when we flew through some +10 lift. Holy cow! that was a personal record and I zipped right through it. A voice came from behind simply saying, "you should have taken that". "Oh well" I thought, "I can look for it on the way North". Besides, the flight computer was indicating that I was above final glide back home…. but damm, …+10!
I soon rounded the final turn point and turned to the North for the homeward leg. "Plenty of lift out here now" I remarked to myself. A scan of the instruments and flight computer showed that I was still above final glide. A bit of traffic to the East. I reminded myself to remain particularly vigilant since the EVA was having its annual "Fun and Sun" event involving, get this, some 20,000 aircraft a mere 20 miles to the South of Weeks. If only 1% of those aircraft departed early and headed North that equaled 200 flights!
It wasn't long before..POW.. I hit that pocket of +10 lift. I was already high enough but I racked the glider over into a bank anyway saying to Knut in the back "I don't need this but I just have to take it". I'm sure he was smiling back there! Three turns later I set course for Seminole Lake Glider port. Now I was really high… "OK" I said to myself "lets check out the high-speed handling characteristics of this fine aircraft and loose a little altitude". I lowered the nose and trimmed the aircraft forward increasing speed to 110 knots.
I found that I had to hold the aircraft down to go this fast in level flight. I don't know if I had trimmed the glider fully forward, probably not. I was above the 103 Knot maneuvering speed (VA) and, therefore, limited to 1/3 control deflections. I didn't need the manual to remind me of this, it was sort of intuitive; we were rocketing along. I later described the handling characteristics of the DG-505 at high speed as "like a DC-9". I didn't mean to imply that the aircraft was heavy or ungainly, but rather that the glider's response to control inputs was predictable, linear and that the "feel" was rock-solid.
Despite my best efforts to induce drag and to increase the sink rate I still arrived over Seminole-Lakes at 4000 feet! This glider just won't sink! Knut suggested that we proceed a further 10 miles north and return just to bleed off altitude. I settled down to enjoy the scenic orange groves that stretched below. 10 miles out I reversed course and returned to the entry point.
My final circuit was, naturally, an improvement over the first. I adjusted height on the downwind leg to pass the landing point at five hundred feet. After a nice, wide base I turned on to downwind. Perfectly aligned, I was closing the landing area steadily with half spoilers. Knut piped up from the back, "you're high." "What do you mean high?" I responded. "I want to land at this end of the runway so we can put the glider away" he casually mentioned. "*$%%!^ this was going so well" I said to myself I pulled the spoilers full open. I steepened the glide path until I had intersected the approach to the hangar and then normalized the rate of decent. I touched down softly and rolled to a stop 50 feet short of the hangar. Boy those dive brakes do work well!
After taking more obligatory "hero" photographs it was off to the office to get my logbook stamped. I thanked Knut very profusely, packed up my gear and headed back to my ship. I enjoyed a spectacular drive back through the undulating hills of orange groves. Life was so good that even the promised swamp failed to materialize! Oh well, I'll have to go to Wally's Wild World of Gators to see any reptiles…
Epilogue:
One of the themes of this article has been to give a concrete example of the influence of the internet on our sport. Throughout the world, membership in the sport of soaring is declining. The reasons for this are manifold and stem from demographics to the new leisure paradigm of "instant gratification". Today, the internet is all pervasive and its influence cannot be estimated. If soaring is to survive as a popular sport we must attract a steady stream of fresh, enthusiastic talent. High quality, and world-renown web sites such as DG-Flugzeugbau are a large part of the answer. Thank you Friedel Weber for your dedication to the sport of soaring, safety and the production of such an outstanding website.
- yves bastien -
Please also have a look at: A different kind of Flying Story