News

Cirrus No. 77 destroyed in launch accident!
I regret to inform that my beautiful Cirrus C-GUIL is destroyed. My partner Karl Robinson was on his first flight this year. The glider accelerated to normal launch speed and, about 100 meters down the field, pitched up about 80deg., yawed and continued till inverted and flew into trees at about 60deg. nose down.

The Transportation Safety Board has not issued an Accident Report so far but my report as club Safety Officer to the Soaring Association of Canada is to the effect that the pilot moved back in the seat due to a rapid transition to a steep climb. Contact with rudder controls was lost and forward stick motion was not possible from the rearward position.

There are a number of questions as to how this rearward movement took place. The pilot was quite short and the bunk needed to be made smaller and the frame support extended fully forward. In this situation the pilot had mentioned in the past that he lost contact with the pedals on launch. Cushions were available for additional support but were not used in the situation under review. It is also possible that in rotating the bunk sling, the retaining pin was improperly entered in the round plate with matching holes. The pin has a head on it and if it was lodged in the hole instead of passing through it, or, if the support arm was lodged on the pin at the rear of the cockpit rather than passing through the hole, rearward motion could possibly take place resulting in back-stick motion and loss of rudder control. The cockpit area was so badly damaged that one could not assess the likelihood of these two possibilities.

I would like to know if this situation has ever occurred in the past. Also, to inform owners of the situation and to emphasize the care needed to prevent rearward movement during acceleration and climb on winch launch. The Safety board inspectors examined the other Cirrus on our field and understood the possibilities but were not convinced that it was likely.
Richard Vine, Safety Officer, Bluenose Soaring Club

CIRRUS RALLY June 1- July 15, 2003 at Marfa in west Texas.
    Owners of Open Class and Standard Class CIRRUS sailplanes are invited to an informal soaring rally at Marfa Airport in west Texas. The dates coincide with Burt Compton's annual "Thermal and Cross Country Camp", although aerotows will be available June through November.
    John Byrd will "team fly" practice tasks around the high country of west Texas. The topography of the Marfa Plateau, Davis Mountains and Big Bend National Park creates exceptionally strong thermal conditions, with cloudbases typically above 15,000'. Marfa Airport (MRF) is located 180 miles southeast of El Paso. Field elevation is 4,850' , with relatively mild summer temperatures. Marfa town is just three miles away, and has several new restaurants along with the restored Hotel Paisano, traditional gathering place of glider pilots from around the world.
    Marfa was the site of several US National Contests, including the legendary 1969 contest in which 82 sailplanes participated. George Moffat won the '69 contest in his Open Cirrus, as he recounts in his article in the October 2002 "Soaring" magazine. The soaring movie "The Sun Ship Game" was filmed that year in Marfa, with considerable Cirrus footage. Of course, we'll show the film during one of our many evening gatherings. In 1970, Marfa hosted the World Soaring Championships which George Moffat won in the first Nimbus sailplane.
    Standard Cirrus sailplane owners are welcome, indeed, I have one of each:   Standard Cirrus # 187 and Open Cirrus # 33.
    Tom Beltz won his first US Nationals at Marfa in 1972, in his Standard Cirrus. Learn more about soaring with us at Marfa at www.FLYGLIDERS.com or e-mail Burt at FBCompton@aol.com

Make plans now to fly cross country, earn badges, set records, or just have some big fun in the booming thermals next summer at Marfa. We'll show you a good time!
Burt & Kathie Compton
Marfa Gliders 1-800-667-WING (9464)
www.FLYGLIDERS.com

March 21, 2002. From Tilo Holighaus comes exciting news about the original Cirrus V-tailed prototype! Tilo says:

"Maybe I can correct a little the history, adding some interesting facts. It's true that the first ever Cirrus had a V-tail. After a longer research I was able to find this glider in a more or less airworthy condition in South Africa. Because the owner loved the idea of bringing it back to its origin, he agreed to sell it to us.

April 9, 2001. Thanks to Peter Gill (UK), we have a copy of the Cranfield Report which documents in detail the performance measurements of Cirrus No. 21 (BGA 1473). (Actually, we've had it for almost a year but have been behind in transcribing it for web hosting!) We have most of the report transcribed into a PDF file and ready to upload, but the graphics are poor and we are trying to find original sources of the graphics to make them clearer.