Post-briefing 14 August and panel pic o' the day

 Today's panel pic is OX - Antares 18S, flown by Werner Danz (owned by Willem Langelaan).  Winter ASI, SAGE vario, EuroFLARM with a glareshield compass peeking out from on top, Clearnav, CAI 302, Winter Altimeter, Becker radio, and a transponder at the bottom. Nice leather grey/blue handgrip...

 Since panel space is at a premium, there is a back-up logger on the headrest... attachment perhaps a bit flimsy for my taste, given its prime location about 2 inches from the pilot's brain (time for "the universal adapter?").  Your mileage may vary... Note also, the SPOT tracker on the parachute.

There are a lot of SPOTs out there - all the Canadian team use them - and many are attached to chutes, so your position (rather than the glider) is known. Having done SAR, having a better position to start from is a great thing. Low data rate, but low battery draw too, all for a hunded bucks or so.

Tomorrow - panel pic of the LAK 17bfes (front electric sustainer), and its winglet detail that is interesting to me.  It's tough to get to very many other gliders, and crews understandably don't want a bunch of people nosing around their cockpits in the busy time between gridding and launch - particularly with a camera wielded by an opposing crewman!

I'm trying to get pics of PowerFLARM antenna installations to help those wrestling with placement (my Brick goes in to my SZD-55 when I get home - here as a team spare right now).  You've seen Nick's, and I will get another pic of Dave's new antenna (FLARM) - he's buried the ADS B/Transponder antenna under the glareshield (FLARM is 10 milliwatts, transponders 175-250 watt transmit, so a bit more forgiving in receive).  Both are Bricks.

Here are the tasks of the day:

There was a change on the grid in 18m to a B task:

 

Pretty well the same distance, but doesn't run down the edge of restricted airspace, and stays out of the wettest part of the hill country.

 We were across from the Open class today; here are 3, and you can see how the wings, full of water, droop.  An ASW 22, modified, Concordia, and a Nimbus 4T...  Probably the worst picture of the century.