345 mile cross country flight Learn to fly glider sailplane Roy Dawson video

texassoaring.org
Flying the Duo Discus sailplane 345 miles in 5.3 hrs. The average ground speed over the course was 65 mph. This flight is part of the cross country mentoring program offered at TSA. Club members can fly with an experienced cross-country pilot. The Duo Discus is a high-performance two-seat glider primarily designed for fast cross-country flying, including gliding competitions. It is often used for advanced training.
General characteristics
• Crew: Two
• Capacity: 200 kg (440 lb) water ballast
• Length: 8.73 m (28 ft 3 in)
• Wingspan: 20.00 m (65 ft 7 in)
• Height: ca. 1.60 m (5 ft 3 in)
• Wing area: 16.4 m2 (176 ft2)
• Aspect ratio: 24.4
• Wing profile: DFVLR HX 83
• Empty weight: 410 kg (900 lb)
• Gross weight: 700 kg (1,540 lb)
Performance
• Maximum speed: 263 km/h (164 mph)
• Maximum glide ratio: 46-47
• Rate of sink: 0.58 m/s (114 ft/mi
Texas Soaring Association (TSA) is a non-profit corporation devoted to motorless flight. Established in 1947, the club is located 15 minutes south of Midlothian, Texas, which is itself at the southern edge of the Dallas/Fort Worth area. The club is maintained and operated by the voluntary efforts of its more than 200 members. The club operates from its own airfield and owns six single and four two-place sailplanes, plus four Pawnee tow planes. TSA operates year-round on most flyable Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. The club also operates on an unscheduled basis on other weekdays when the flying weather is really good!
#gliding #soaring #sailplane #glider #aviation #globalgliding #flying #gliderpilot #pilot #plane #sailplanepilot #asw20

[@paulkaye5076]

"Cleared for a low pass", and then there's an aircraft departing as you pass the strip at 100' and 130 kts ! :)

[@martyryan2529]

Agree. I've never seen as dangerous an arrival as this one. I would call that an airprox that should be investigated. Bloody dangerous cowboy.!

[@paulkaye5076]

@@martyryan2529 Well, I wouldn't go that far - but it seems odd that the airfield gave "clearance" (informally) and then let an aircraft depart. I suppose that the Duo pilot could see what was going on pretty well.

[@lautoka63]

Well done, Roy. Other clubs use their Duo for the same purpose. Having company in your early cross-country days makes it all seem possible and you get lots of good advice along the way. If you're in a club and you want to start going cross-country, get a flight like this with an experienced pilot and you'll learn lots (while having someone to blame if you land out).

[@halbeard4804]

Great flight! Truly a good decision to learn with some pilots that have more knowledge and skills about long flights. Keep gliding

[@flygliders]

thanks for the good feedback

[@ronanvanlangen6720]

Nice to see my clubs duo discus SAL at 1:18, greetings from Holland!

[@benjaminedwards3086]

what club do you fly at? i fly at KZC

[@Tinker1950]

What a way to spend a day...

[@gweckesser]

Great video Roy!!! Good job. Greetings from Argentina

[@flygliders]

Thanks for the positive feedback

[@blancolirio]

I'd think I'd have to pee...Great overview of X/C soaring!

[@AP-kk4ys]

That be me. When I go on long road trips, I have to pee every hour or so but at Least I can pull over or find a public restroom. Lol

[@revangqube345]

My ambition !!!🤩

[@MatematicaTel]

Hi Roy!! I am a brazilian pilot who is also a math teacher, so I always say that sailplanes are Sun-powered planes, and mathematic is their engine! I have a question about glide ratio and range: in metric system, if you read 1000 meter in your altimeter (in a 45 to 1 glider), you can teorethically reach 45 kilometers. The calculation is very straightforward. But if the altimeter shows, lets say, 10,000 ft, how can you mentally calculate how many nautical miles you can go? I know you americans always have practical ways to do things, so I guess you can teach me something interesting! thanks a lot, and congratulations for this pleasant flight!!

[@flygliders]

When I fly my glider which has a 40/1 glide ratio. You can glide about 8 miles per one thousand feet of altitude consumed. I reduce that figure to 7 miles per thousand feet. So when I'm trying to calculate the distance is just that simple formula. As far as nautical miles, it's close enough to miles. This doesn't need to be an exact science.

[@Smokeslingerowner]

@@flygliders Do I need to be under 225 pounds to fly ?

[@siliconebobsqpts]

Nice , Send some of those Cu'c East . Rain....Rain.... Rain

[@KellyVicentBBVChamp]

Great video! Just curious, at about 12:15 in the video, it looks like you go through an area of 20 knot lift for 15 or 20 seconds. I’ve just started lessons and was wondering why you would not try to circle at that point and gain some altitude / energy for the rest of the task? Thanks for the great information!

[@flygliders]

We didn’t need it,

[@lautoka63]

Roy, a question that may surprise some viewers. What system do you guys use for in-flight relief? i.e. how do you pee? Diapers are a common solution, but I'm interested to know what others do.

[@flygliders]

the glider is equipped with relief tubes for pilot and co-pilot. The tubes exit under the bottom of the fuselage or the other option that I use is a diaper in a plastic bag.

[@lautoka63]

I use a diaper; I don't want to risk getting my parachute wet.@@flygliders

[@papavictorromeo5079]

What GPS data logger program do you use?

[@ninepuchar1]

May I ask,why the glider has to be flown under clouds?

[@flygliders]

The lift stops at the bottom of the cumulas cloud. We are not allowed to fly inside the cloud

[@ninepuchar1]

@@flygliders thank you for answering🙏