The Flying Nerd

[Update: the referenced video is no longer available on Google Video.]

Nerds (flying or otherwise) love Top Gear. Right Neil?

I stumbled across the fact that the fabulous British TV show about cars has some episodes on Google Video. The Top Gear team, led by the ever-manic Jeremy Clarkson, made a special show with a Winter Oympics theme. You can view it directly on this site, below.

I haven’t had time to view the whole episode yet, so I won’t comment on the MANY silly things that they do with cars and ice. But if you scroll through to about the 50th minute, you can see the Top Gear attempt at sending a Mini Cooper (a real one, not the recent BMW version) over a ski jump. With rockets attached.

Here’s a screen grab.

Enjoy!

I found a neat utility that converts International Gliding Commission (.igc) log files to Google Earth (.kml) files. This conversion allows any user of Google Earth to view files that would otherwise only be viewable on some very nerdy software that’s used by glider pilots.

I’ve converted the .igc files from my two long flights in January to Google Earth files. You can download them (around 100k each):

* 10 Jan 06 flight: Forbes – Narromine – Forbes
* 12 Jan 06 flight: Forbes – Bogan Gate – Condobolin airfield – Grenfell airfield – Forbes.

Continue Reading »

I received this link in an Southern Cross Gliding Club group email. The link takes you to a moving hand/eye coordination and reflex testing puzzle.

To ‘play’ the puzzle, click on the red square and ‘hold’ it. You must drag the red square around in such a manner that you don’t touch any of the moving blue shapes or the black borders. It is said that 18 seconds is a pretty phenomenal result. It’s also suggested that the US Air Force uses the puzzle to test out fighter pilots — and that they are expected to achieve two (2) minutes!

I got to six seconds before having a minor freak-out.

My boss has managed 21 seconds. I know this because he called me to his office to show me!

Have fun.

My two good flights at Forbes can now be viewed on-line, courtesy of the AeroKurier international on-line soaring contest.

The on-line contest (OLC) operates through a web site onto which glider pilots from around the world can load their flights for scoring and viewing by others. I’ve loaded my flights for 10 January (Forbes – Narromine – Forbes) and 12 January (Forbes – Bogan Gate – Condobolin – Grenfell – Forbes) onto the competition site. Click these links to view the flights:

10 January

12 January

For each of the flights, the link will take you to a page with three distinct areas on it:

Have a look and see what you think!

(By the way, my flights are nothing special — I’ve just used the competition site as a handy place to make them available!)

After a few busy weeks at home (Christmas, Test Match, sermon preparation), this week the Nerd really is flying!

I have travelled to Forbes (central western NSW, south west of Parkes) to participate in the Southern Cross Gliding Club’s annual camp.

Yesterday (Tuesday) was my first flying day. I flew the club’s DG-303 glider. It was a good (not great) day. I flew to Narromine and back (260km) as did 5 other club members. But the day wasn’t good enough for the 500km flight I had ‘declared’ (Forbes – Narromine – Cootamundra – Forbes). Maybe another day.

Here I am strapped in ready for take off. Note my new Guantanamo-orange flying suit.

Continue Reading »

Southern Cross Gliding Club will be displaying a glider on the front lawn of the Willoughby Town Hall (Victoria Avenue, Chatswood) tomorrow (Sunday, 4 December 2005). Better still, we’ll be selling tickets for ‘Air Experience Flights’.

An Air Experience Flight is like a joy flight, but with one big difference. Under the careful supervision of one of our experienced instructors, YOU get to take the controls and fly the glider. It works like this:
* the instructor flies the glider during take-off and aerotow (when the glider is towed aloft behind a small power plane)
* the instructor will fly the glider for a while to show you the views and explain a little bit about what’s going on
* if you’re keen, the instructor will help you take hold of the controls and fly the glider — you’ll get to experience straight-and-level flight, and make a few turns
* when it’s time to land, the instructor will again take the controls to bring you back for a gentle landing on our (currently very green) runway.

Sound like fun? Come and check out our glider in Chatswood. Ask us some questions. Buy a ticket!

Since the club is run by volunteers and no-one gets paid for taking you on an Air Experience Flight, we are able to use the profits from this program to save up for our next new toy — a new ASK-21 two seat training glider.

This week, I had the great privilege to fly the Southern Cross Gliding Club‘s brand new DG-303 single seat glider.
Continue Reading »