Th Fai World Gliding Championships – Uvalde Texas

August 23, 2024

As predicted, Uvalde temperatures indeed did moderate today – we reached only 102F. It doesn’t sound like much of an improvement over 107, but the difference was noticeable.

Unfortunately, the same can be said of the soaring conditions. In particular, the Hill Country north of Uvalde produced few of the strong, high thermals that made it so friendly during previous days: Over mostly unlandable terrain that rises above 2000’, there’s a big difference between consistent strong climbs to 10,000’ and gentle ones that occasionally reach 6000’.

The 18-Meter class had the toughest task: a 575-km triangle east and south of home. The second leg figured to be difficult due to a forecast that included cirrus clouds that would shade the ground and suppress thermal lift. Conditions near the first turnpoint were indeed poor, and many pilots struggled there, some spending much time desperately low (and a few starting their engines to return home).

Seeing the problems on the second leg, many chose to make a huge detour west and then south, avoiding the worst of the cirrus and also a large area of forbidden airspace that blocked any possibility of a short detour. Some – among them Sean Fidler, flying ZO – chose not to make the detour, banking on lift under the thin high clouds. This worked: thermal lift was sufficient for decent progress, and improved near the southern turnpoint. From there, the run north to the finish was no problem. Sean’s excellent flight earned him second place for the day, just 8 points shy of first. Many 18-Meter pilots struggled to finish this long task; a total of 7 failed to do so, and some landed very late – three after 8:20 (thus, more than 10 minutes after sunset).

The Open class had a long area task; controversially, the first turn was the only large one. This asks pilots to decide whether or not to take extra kilometers early, when little can be known about what conditions will be like at the end of the day: Go deep and risk not finishing if the day dies early, or turn early and if the day stays strong you may not have enough distance available to fill the assigned minimum time (in this case, 4.5 hours). In the event, lift was weak enough that most pilots turned fairly early, and everyone struggled a bit to get home (no one finished under the minimum time). Keith Baugh had an outstanding flight, consistently finding good lift when he needed it and keeping up with the EB29R gliders (widely regarded as the best ones here). He finished 5th for the day, just 19 points shy of first. Two Open-class pilots arrived home well after sunset.

The 20-Meter class was the one sent north, into the hills. As noted, lift for most of their task was disappointing. At one point, Karl and Sarah fell behind the pack and looked to be struggling. But they found a (rare) strong climb that others missed, and on the run south out of the hills caught and even passed gliders that at one point had been 30km ahead. The final leg had weak lift but a helpful tailwind; they handled this well and finished just a minute later than the first glider home.

Looking at gliders in the Open class, we find 4 different models: The EB29R is a “superglider” from Binder Flugzeugbau in Germany, featuring a thin, narrow wing that, despite its impressive span (28 meters) is small enough to reach an impressively high wingloading (essential for good high-speed performance); five are flying here. From Jonker in South Africa, we have the JS-1C (21 meters) flown by 7 pilots and the brand-new JS-5 (24.2 meters) flown by 4 pilots. The Jonker brothers (Attie and Uys, who are competing here) made a heroic effort to get these gilders delivered and ready to fly, which reportedly included several late nights during the practice period. The final Open-class glider is the Nixus, a unique model (also with 28-meter wingspan) from Brazilian aeronautical engineer Paulo Iscold. Among other innovations, the wings use a fly-by-wire system incorporating 12 electronically activated control surfaces, that act in concert both as ailerons and flaps.

John Good