
The first competition day of the 38th World Gliding Championships in Uvalde TX featured genuine ‘Uvalde weather’. For the uninitiated, this means conditions that are borderline miserable on the ground, but remarkable for pilots who depend on thermal lift for propulsion.
In truth, the entire practice period has offered what Uvalde is famous for: alarmingly high temperatures (over 100F in the afternoon; not much below 90F at 8am) that produce thermal lift about as good as can be found anywhere in the world. It’s hard on crews (who toil in morning heat getting gliders ready and gridded) and pilots (even the wise ones who spend the morning in air-conditioned comfort). But the result is motorless flight at impressive speeds.
So it was yesterday, and 65 pilots responded enthusiastically, with best speeds approaching 100 mph. Best US results were obtained by Sean Fidler (flying ZO, an AS-33) who was 8th in 18-Meter class, and the team of Sarah Arnold and Karl Striedieck (flying L, an Arcus) with a strong second in 20-Meter class. They had a 4-hour area task that featured some trouble with cirrus clouds at two southern turn areas. This called for an early start and meant the standard “start late and run down the early starters” scheme was not a smart choice. (In general, reliable Uvalde-area cumulus clouds reduce the value of fiberglass thermal markers.)
The Uvalde task area is not much troubled by airspace issues – compared to many sites, this one is notably friendly to wide-ranging gliders. Nonetheless, yesterday saw one airspace ‘bust’ for which the penalty is severe: the pilot is scored as having landed at the point of entry. (Further violations lead to a score of zero for the day, and then disqualification.) Despite this, and the presence in every panel of sophisticated instrumentation, airspace violations remain all too common. The inevitable conclusion is that our glide computers are deficient – they simply do not produce warnings in a form that would consistently allow even skilled and highly motivated pilots to avoid problems.
John Good