US Soaring Team WGC Reports & Results

Yesterday was a difficult day as there was a fatality at the airport. Unfortunately, a professional photographer was taking pictures of the gliders as they finished low over the line and he was hit by the wing of a club class ship and killed. We do not know all the details but the glider crashed in a neighboring field. Thankfully the pilot was physically unhurt, but is suffering severe shock as might be expected. Needless to say that has been difficult for everyone involved and especially the organizers who have had to deal with the police and accident investigators. Actually, the photographer was off airport property and in a farmers field standing on his auto which was hidden by hedges on the side of the road. The entire incident is unfortunate and sad.

On a more positive note our team did very well yesterday. In fact they must have done just about everything right as they came in first and second and that is no mean feat considering the other 28 pilots in their class and the level of expertise of the European, British, Australian, and South African pilots; especially, in light of the fact that the task was a very tricky one with lots of opportunities for airspace and parachute jump area violations. Both were able to carry water the entire flight and in terms of distance they went to the end of both sectors of the task. Mike came in first with a distance of 292 Kilometers and a speed of 90.2 K/hr. Garret was right behind with 295 Kilometers flown and a speed of 87.6 K/hr. At this time Mike has moved into 15th place overall and Garret in to 16th. Slowly but surely we seem to be moving up the standings and considering Mike was once in 23rd place I am more than pleased with their progress. Mike's log. Garret's log.

They flew as a team for the entire flight, helping each other and letting the other know what was happening. There is no doubt that team flying is very useful and it looks like all the time they spent practicing that in the USA has paid off because they are doing it very well. Needless to say we were a very happy team last night.

Bob Leve

. See the Junior Team web page here and the WGC official site here.

Captions for photos: From top to bottom: N/A About the pictures. Images are taken by the U.S. Team Captain and other U.S. Team Members. Some of the images used here can be found on the official website and were taken by one of several excellent contributors.
U.S. Soaring Team Standings
Class	Pilot	Sailplane	Contest Number	Day Place & Points	Overall Place & Points
Junior	Garret Willat	LS-8 18	L58	2nd 948	14th 2795
Junior	Mike Westbrook	ASW-28	C6	1st 1000	13th 2798
				See the official scores here
Points of Interest
ABOUT DAY REPORTS The U.S. Team Day Reports are brought to you by the US Soaring Team and hard working volunteer Frank Whiteley. Thank you Frank!
YOUR TEAM SUPPORT All US team members would like to thank those of you who have contributed to make participation in these international events possible. If you have not contributed to the team please consider making one! To see how, visit the U.S. Team Funding page here and the Robertson Trust Web here.
U.S. TEAM COMMITTEE The U.S. Team Committee has been working to establish a more stable management structure and better resources for our soaring teams. The objective are more transparent, accountable, sustainable and competitive United States soaring teams. See the full information on the new U.S. Team Committee here.
U.S. TEAM E-NEWS Sign up today for the U.S. Team E-NEWS. This electronic newsletter is sent out roughly quarterly and covers all the team news. The sign up process is simple - start by clicking here.
TEAM NEWS, HISTORY & ARCHIVE To catch up on all the news for the U.S. World Soaring Teams see the U.S. Team News. See the U.S. Team Archive for team background since 1950. As part of the Archive tour see the U.S. Team History page for a complete listing of US Teams since 1950 or the World Champions page for a complete listing of champions since 1937.
2005 Junior Team Sponsors & Helpers

The Junior Team would like to thank their sponsors who are providing products for the team's use.

Roy McMaster, as the US distributor for SeeYou, the flight planning, analysis and in-flight software is personally is sponsoring copies of SeeYou for the Junior Team. Contact Roy directly via email by clicking here.

Kevin Brooker of Peetot Pants is supplying the team uniforms and several pairs of his innovative pants. See Kevin's web site for more on these pants that allow you to watch your P's and Cu's here.

Many thanks to the Jaguar and Land Rover Engineering teams in England for arranging crew vehicles for the US Junior team. This went a long way toward helping the junior team finances.

Country and Contest Site

In 2005, The Soaring Centre, in association with the BGA, will be hosting the 5th Junior World Gliding Championships. This will be the first International gliding championships to be held in the UK in over a generation. The Soaring Centre, has with 400 members and a large fleet of modern glassfibre sailplanes.

Situated in the heart of the Midlands, the airfield is only 3 miles from the major motorway networks, and 1/2 mile from Husbands Bosworth village, making access easy from any part of the country.