What is the longest flight achieved by a glider?
December 10, 2023What is the longest flight achieved by a glider?
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QUESTION What is the longest flight achieved by a glider?
A new record flight attempt was made on June 19 this year, when Gordon Boettger and Bruce Campbell caught a weather system known as the Sierra Wave in Nevada, America.
When the pair set off from Minden-Tahoe Airport at 2.30am, they aimed to complete a ‘2,500km-plus flight’.
Yet after 17 hours 25 minutes they landed at Cedarville Airport, California, having covered a record 1,898 miles (3,055km). It beat the previous record of 1,869 miles (3,008km) set by Klaus Ohlmann in the Andes in 2003.
Boettger is a veteran Navy carrier pilot who flies 777 cargo jets for FedEx and has been flying gliders since he was 13, despite having to fold his 6ft 5in frame into the cockpit.
The eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada mountain range generates reliable mountain waves and thermal conditions throughout the year that are highly sought after by glider pilots.
A new record flight attempt was made on June 19 this year, when Gordon Boettger and Bruce Campbell caught a weather system known as the Sierra Wave in Nevada , America
When pilots get it right and ‘catch a monster’, they can fly straight for huge distances at heights that can reach well over 30,000ft. Integral to the journey was Boettger’s new glider, the Arcus M. This self-launching craft has a high VNE rating for high-altitude flight; VNE stands for ‘velocity never exceed’, which refers to the velocity that should never be exceeded due to risk of structural failure.
James Solomon, Weymouth, Dorset.
QUESTION Why do clocks have ‘hands’ when they look and behave like arms?
The word ‘hands’ has been used for the pointers on a clock face since the 16th century; Shakespeare, for instance, wrote: ‘The baudie hand of the diall is euen now vpon the pricke of noone,’ in Romeo And Juliet (written about 1594-96) and there are earlier references.
We have a tendency to anthropomorphise man-made objects; a clock also has a face, writes Charles Legge
TOMORROW’S QUESTIONS…
Q: The song White Christmas has no middle eight and no chorus. What other hit songs have lacked both?
Clive Whichelow, London SW19.
Q: How long has it been standard practice (and why) for horse riders to mount and dismount from the left side of the horse?
Ian Crawford, Banbury, Oxon.
Q: Did the Amazon River once flow in the opposite direction?
Frank Church, Runcorn, Cheshire.
We have a tendency to anthropomorphise man-made objects; a clock also has a face, a cup has a lip, a cliff has a foot (and a face) etc. It is therefore assumed that we adopted the name ‘hands’ with the idea in mind that it is the hands that ‘point’ to the correct time.
Wendy Smith, Huntingdon, Cambs.
QUESTION Which was the first major band to feature a female lead guitarist?
Further to the earlier answer, which referenced Peggy Jones ‘Lady Bo’ as the first female guitarist in a major band, can I also mention Britain’s first all-female group, namely The Liverbirds who, surprise, surprise, came from Liverpool.
They honed their craft alongside The Beatles in the Cavern Club before moving to Hamburg in what was West Germany in the 1960s, where they had singles and album success.
Only the bassist (Mary McGlory) and drummer (Sylvia Saunders) are still with us. The band has a play dedicated to them currently showing in Liverpool, and in March their biography will be published. The other two members, now sadly gone, were Valerie Gell on lead guitar and Pam Birch on rhythm guitar and vocals.
Michael Douglas, Guildford, Surrey.
Is there a question to which you want to know the answer? Or do you know the answer to a question here? Write to: Charles Legge, Answers To Correspondents, Daily Mail, 9 Derry Street, London W8 5HY; or email [email protected]. A selection is published, but we’re unable to enter into individual correspondence.
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