May | 2015 | Terry Pitts

There are glider pilots I’ve read about online who have flown as many as 50 different gliders. I’m nowhere near that number – and likely never will be – but my own list of 24 is slowly growing. (Links are to Wikipedia.)

Right after my first flight in the MDM-1 Fox, a glider purpose-built for aerobic competition. It's at the top of the class! — Right after my first flight in the MDM-1 Fox, a glider purpose-built for aerobic competition. It’s at the top of the class!

The number of glider manufacturers has declined over the years. Although Wikipedia lists pretty much everyone who has ever made a glider, I’m only going to list companies here that are currently producing gliders or supporting gliders they’ve made.

DG Flugzeugbau in Bruchsal, Germany. I had the chance to tour their very spacious, modern factory during the summer of 2012 with some German glider friends, coworkers, and CAP Cadets.

Jonkers Sailplanes are produced in South Africa and becoming increasingly more popular.

Schemp-Hirth Flugzeugbau is located in the town of Kirchheim (Teck), Germany not too far from the historic Hahnweide glider field where I flew for two years.

Alexander Schleicher is in Poppenhausen, Germany, not far from the well known and historic Wasserkuppe where I did my initial German aerobatic training. On a rainy day during the aerobatic course we had a chance to tour the factory. I saw the mold that every ASK-21 I’ve flown came out of!

American Windward Performance is a new glider manufacturer, but has had good luck so far.

A brief edit to add a link to my personal page. As of the time I write this, I have flown 21 different airplanes. Maybe both lists will grown longer.

Here are useful URL’s provided by an avid racer to understand the daily air mass and to forecast XC potential or daily Racing strategy considerations. These should be checked in the sequence shown (from big picture to detailed analysis).

Start with the national synoptic picture to understand fronts and air masses.

Check how the fronts are moving over the next 12 – 48 hours.

Next, review the satellite imagery to see movement of clouds, especially high cirrus.

Check the civilian forecasts here and especially look at the Meteograms on this site that compare the various models.

Read the Forecast Discussion here and then go to the Tabular Forecast and calculate cloudbases each hour by using the Temp/Dewpoint spread here (220 feet per degree Fahrenheit).

See what the other pilots will be seeing in XCSkies with focus on geographic analysis (which area is best (I focus on Thermal Heights and Cloud bases and don’t pay much attention to Lift Strength).

Look at the soundings (Op40 RAP) and analyze the atmosphere for low, mid and high clouds, strength of inversion, height by time of day, etc.)

Look at the RAP fields or the HRRR fields further down. Particularly focus on the HRRR Max Updraft fields to see the streets and plan your flight strategy.