Finished - Jul 2008

I tried to send a couple of race updates while doing the race and this =
text with some pictures but didn't realize the site would not accept =
attachments.  Here is a text summary.

Date:         Tue, 8 Jul 2003 10:20:08 -0600
Reply-To:     "jim.durango" <jim.durango@starband.net>
Sender:       Ximango Owners Group <XIMANGO@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM>
From:         "jim.durango" <jim.durango@STARBAND.NET>
Subject:      Fw: Finished
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
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Hi folks, =20

I tried to send a couple of race updates while doing the race and this =
text with some pictures but didn't realize the site would not accept =
attachments.  Here is a text summary.

I am back in DRO after 6,000 plus flying miles (and over $6,000 cost).  =
It was more like a marathon than a race in order to make the finish date =
of July 4th at Kitty Hawk.  There was never any strong lift across the =
country except the early departures the first day and that was when I =
was waiting for a tail wheel part.  By the time I got it, the winds had =
shifted and a good start was not possible.  The part was needed after =
some over-enthusiastic volunteers broke it while pushing the bird.  The =
same wind unfortunately resulted in the fatality of one competitor as he =
tried to get to the start area in the same down slope air that I was =
trying to start in.  The only other half-way decent lift day was leaving =
Pheonix for New Mexico.  I soared over 90 miles that day to Tucson but =
it was a real struggle and mostly at less than 2,000 feet agl.  Because =
of the Mount Lemon fire, they added a turnpoint southwest of Tucson that =
was on the east side of a slope and the wind was out of the west.  I =
could not get to the turnpoint in the downslope air.  The high =
performance gliders went by there at over 10,000 feet and then made lots =
of miles with the tailwind on to the next landing site.

It was billed as a handicap race but the scorekeepers never used =
handicaps to compute the results of the classes so there was no chance =
for the Xtreme or I to do well with all the other birds having about 50% =
higher glide performance.  Had I been able to start the first day on =
time, I would have scored above the Xtreme on the 18 meter and =
motorglider results on the web site but it was not to be.  They did do =
an overall handicapped score of all entrants that wasn't official and it =
shows me as 27th out of 44 and the Xtreme as 30th.  Several contestants =
said the scoring used was a mystery science.  At least I never had a day =
with a zero score while a lot of other competitors did.  Only four =
motorgliders flew the entire route while the pure gliders did many miles =
with their birds in the trailer to get to the next site.  The four were =
two of the three Stemmes, the Xtreme and I.  A third Stemme dropped out =
in New Mexico with engine problems.  Another had to patch up a wing =
after dragging it in one of our high wind landings.  Part of getting the =
Ximango to the next strart point required taking off and landing in 40 =
kt winds and some very marginal VFR which was made more difficult by the =
race requirement to remove the attitude gyro.  The Garmin 196 worked =
fine but it would be nice to have a backup.  The gyro was the first =
thing I reinstalled when I got home.  Denis Michaud, of Boulder, =
traveled along on the ground for quite a few miles carrying some of the =
weight that I had been carrying the bird.  His help was appreciated and =
probably added a few points to my score.=20

I enjoyed being one of the first aircraft that have ever been allowed to =
land at Kitty Hawk since the Wright brothers made the first powered =
flight there in 1903.  I did not realize that a wind storm destroyed the =
aircraft the Wright brothers used for those first four flights, December =
17, 1903 so they never flew at Kitty Hawk after that.  The gliders in =
the race are the first aircraft to land on that strip since that first =
flight day in 1903!  There is now a paved runway adjacent to the first =
flight site and I used it as they would not allow you to take back off =
if you landed at the original site.  Ximango N97SM flew in from Delaware =
to be at the finish. =20

It was also fun to see a lot of soaring facilities across the country =
and to meet a lot of top ranked soaring pilots.  We showed the Ximango =
to a great many soaring pilots that had never seen one before at the =
various locations.

On several legs after both the Xtreme and I had started our engines =
(which stops the score), we did some formation flying.  I found that in =
glide mode, I had to pull out about half an inch of spoilers to not =
outglide him.  In cruise, I was three knots faster with the 912S at 5000 =
rpm below 10,000 feet while he was using 5000 and 30 inches in the 914 =
powered Xtreme.

If anyone would like to see some pictures I took along the way, let me =
know your individual e-mail address and I will send them to you.

Cheers  Jim McCann