SIV in Florida

[alek]

Last weekend I did an SIV clinic with David Prentice in Florida. The primary purpose of it is making you a safer pilot, but there is also a pleasant side effect of adrenaline. Here are some of the videos:

B-line stall and asymmetcis: http://vimeo.com/2227910

Full stall, frontal: http://vimeo.com/2219136

Full stall, negative spin that I wound up on the exit to the point where the plywood seatboard broke under my ass: http://vimeo.com/2227812

spin: http://vimeo.com/2228408

~Alek

[Spark]

Alek,

Thanks for sharing that. What kind of a Skywalk? I just bought a Chili.

[alek]

Cool! It's a Tequila. The original, not Tequila2. Not many Skywalks in US. There is a guy up in North East that flies the old Cayenne, the one without jet flaps. Other than that I haven't seen any around.

[stevek]

Cool! What kind of tow rig are you using and how high do you get?

[alek]

There was a payout winch on a boat with 4000 ft of line. Depending on the wind direction and strength the boat usually made a wide U-turn to get the pilot in good position over the lake. The turn initially felt weird because the pilot had to stay wide to the outside of the turn, as opposed to behind the boat, in order to keep the line tensioned up. The tow forces weren't great and it wasn't anywhere near lockout, but just took some getting accustomed to. Eventually, once I got that part down, a couple of my last tows were to 3k+.

Alek

[alek]

...and here is a video from the bloopers reel

http://www.vimeo.com/2271220

[Spark]

I am really liking the SkyWalk jetflaps.

Bummer man. Did your reserve get wet?

[alek]

I haven't flown anything else besides that glider, but I am liking them too!

Chute didn't really get wet but I repacked it anyway just to make sure. It's been a year since I had it out anyways and now I know how to pack better.

[jimrooney]

Finally got to see some of your video.
Looks like you had some good fun.
I especially enjoyed the five minute "I don't think he's going to make it back" part

[pink_albatross]

Enjoyed the videos.
Had to watch them again with the sound on. Which was a lot better, especially that heretofore boring section of Alek coming in and then barely making it to the shore. MUCH better with sound (thanks, Jim!).
Looks like you had a lot of fun, Alek!
Wish I had been there, too.

-- ellis

[jimrooney]

Ellis... What dates will you be out here?
They often put on SIV clinics over in Wanaka which is only 40min away. They have regular bus service there if you aren't going to have a car. You might be distracted a bit by the stunning beauty of lake Wanaka however.

I'll ask around about when they're doing SIV this Summer.
Jim