Five are home

Robin landed only 50 km away, but the roads are pretty bad up north.

He and his crew got out of the field just before sunset.

They won't be home till about midnight.

Bucket Man

Installing the base station antenna.

Six in the air

Today is the first official training day, and a pair of AATs were set.

There was no morning Briefing, and it doesn't appear we will have them on the practice days, which strikes us as a bit unusual.

Juan, Phil, Fernando and Robin queued up on the runway at about 1300, and waited for the single towplane to show up. They launched, rendezvoused, and were finally able to make a Start at about 1500.  Al and  Ryszard came out late and got stuck behind the Canadians on the grid. But they eventually got going and seem to be having a good time getting used to their gliders. The conditions are good and at this moment they're all on final glide.

More Finish Follies

Well, they're doing it again.

When we were here in 2013, they used a 3 km radius finish circle with minimum heights of 50 - 150 meters AGL, depending on the wind.

At this contest, they're planning on using the same circle and 50 meters.

This scheme works if you take the time to climb high enough to finish above the minimum height with adequate speed.

But, of course, most pilots aren't interested in spending too much time circling, so it comes down to weighing personal safety margins every single flight.

I'll never get used to the fact that in many international contests, it is possible to have a good finish with no penalty, and not be able to make it to the runway.

In anticipation of needing to land out at the finish line, or even rolling across the line in the dirt, the guys are out scouting the fields 3 km from here.

Social Media

SSA has begun their coverage of this contest on the US Team website and Facebook.

Thanks Melanie and Leigh!

Rumors

In the absence of official information, we believe that the 15 Meter Class will be limited to 454 kg takeoff mass.  This makes sense, since the few ASW-20s that can go heavier would have an advantage without this limit.  This also raises the question of whether they will issue penalties at the scales for being grossly overweight.

We think that all the Jantars entered can reach 525 kg, so there should be no problem there.

We aren't sure what the tow release altitude will be for this contest. The Local Procedures mention both 500 and 600 meters AGL. The pilots are hoping for the more traditional 600, but nothing is official, yet.

Colors

It's beginning to look a bit more like an international contest around here.

All the teams are all on the field, and the national flags have been hoisted.

Training for the Rest Day

We had unexpected storms last night, and it was still raining when we woke up this morning. The conditions have improved ever since, and there is a small chance that we will make some local test flights before the day is over.  Al and Ryszard will probably take tows just to get familiar with their gliders.

It's a bit curious that the Organisers are still not available for processing registrations or scrutineering. There have been no published announcements, and there is no official notice board. Tomorrow is the first official practice day, and we will presumably get a Task. With only 35 gliders expected, it should be relatively easy to get us all processed before the competition begins, but it would be nice, for all concerned, if we could practice in a simulated contest environment.

We were told that part of the registration process would be the issuance of Argentine pilot certificates, which are required before you're allowed to fly in this country. So far the line crew hasn't been checking for these.

First flights

The organisation here at Chaves is not quite ready to process entries, so we decided to go flying instead of standing in line at the registration desk. It was another cool sunny day, with no clouds and winds from the north.

The 15 Meter Class Team gridded and launched together at about 1430. Fernando discovered a problem with his ASI and elected to land to sort that out. The other three flew upwind together for a couple of hours before returning to base. They reported broken lift to 1400 meters MSL (our elevation is about 200 meters).

Just as they were landing, the rest of our team showed up. Al and Ryszard assembled their Jantars for the first time and tied them down. They will make their first flights tomorrow.

The ASW-20 pilots seem to be happy with their gliders. As usual, the headaches all seem to be associated with electronics and data communications: batteries, Flarm and Flight Recorder IDs, and tracking messages.

But the biggest problem seems to be getting all of our cell phones working.

15 Meter Class preparations

With the arrival of ZC today, all six of our gliders are on the field, as are four of our team members.

The 15 Meter Class pilots are getting their cockpit checks from the glider owners, and some are installing instruments.

Fernando, Roberto, Miguel

Marcelo, Juan

There may be some flying later in the day, but at the moment it is a bit windy for that.

We expect Al and Ryszard to arrive tomorrow.

Gliders and Classes

All six of the gliders we'll be using have been identified.

In the Standard Class (Jantars), Al will fly PS and Ryszard will fly PR.

The rest will fly ASW-20s in the 15 Meter Class:

Robin: IR
Phil: VN (the same glider Sean Franke flew at the WGC in 2013)
Juan: ZC
Fernando: W

Where is that, exactly?

Here:

And yes, the town is really named "Adolfo Gonzales Chaves."

Our local host is the Club de Planeadores Otto Ballod.

Hello

Welcome to the news blog of the US Soaring Team.

We are headed to the 2nd Pan American Gliding Championship in Adolfo Gonzales Chaves, in Argentina.  The 2012 World Gliding Championships were held here, and one of our current pilots (Phil Gaisford) represented USA at that event.

We have a well-seasoned team. All but one of our current team members (Al) participated in the 1st PAGC, which was held in Tennessee in 2015, and Phil is a returning champion.

This event is unusual, in that it will be held in two monotype classes, the ASW-20 class, and the Standard Jantar Class. The gliders are being arranged by FAVAV, the Argentine gliding federation.  In the record books, the contest will appear as an FAI Continental Gliding Championships in the 15 Meter and Standard Classes.

Phil, Robin, Fernando, and Juan will be flying in the 15 Meter Class; and Al and Ryszard will be our Standard Class team.

There are nine gliding countries in the Americas, and six of them will participate this year, along with a few guest pilots from overseas.  The preliminary entry list is here.