Demystifying The Killer Turn

Everyone gets the big scare speech early on in their flight training: "If you lose power on takeoff," say our trusty CFIs, with the requisite sobering tone of voice, "DO NOT try to return to the airport if you are below X feet above ground...always find an emergency landing area somewhere ahead."
Everyone has their favorite altitude number for "X", which is a factor of many variables, including aircraft engine off glide ratio and density altitude.  Usually it's a comfortably conservative number, say 1000 feet minimum AGL.

There's a good reason for that cautionary buffer zone of course: many pilots - and passengers - have died trying to make the killer turn back to the airport from too low an altitude.
In an attempt to demystify the infamous "Impossible turn", AOPA online managing editor Alyssa J. Miller goes about the worthy business of investigating firsthand just how high one should be above launch airport altitude to feel safe about turning back for that oasis of engine-out safety: the runway.

It's all based on aviation journalist Barry Schiff's Impossible Turn Maneuver Checklist, also replicated in the article.  Miller's goal is to "find out how much altitude you need to turn around safely—not to try to turn the aircraft around in a pre-set amount of altitude."
It's an important distinction, that difference between knowing the absolute minimum altitude you'll need vs. having a mindset of "must turn in 500 feet" to wrestle with.
And she does a service thereby for all of us by accumulating some real world numbers.
Taking wing, she climbed to a safe altitude with CFI Sandy Geer, then recorded several repetitions of:
<> simulated engine failure on takeoff
<> stabilizing to best glide speed
<> turning 270 degrees (a turn left or right dictates you will need more than just 180 degrees to line back up with the runway)
<> flaring, as if performing a landing
<> then recording the total altitude lost from pulling the power.
Miller's best altitude loss number was 300 feet in a Cessna 172!  The average altitude lost for the entire group of simulations was between 300 and 500 feet.  I'm itching to try this in an LSA...especially a motorglider.
After discussing their efforts, they each settle on a minimum above ground comfort altitude: CFI Reed's is 1000 feet AGL, while Miller says she might consider 750 feet her personal minimum.
Both note that in a true emergency situation any number of distractions will lead to greater altitude loss, or as we say Webside: YRMV (Your Results May Vary).  
It's a thought-provoking read, with a helpful accompanying video.  
At Sebring next month, I'm going to add this maneuver to my pilot report flight list, which should also give me some interesting comparison figures between different models of LSA, since all flights will take place from the same airport. 

FAA Amends Sport Pilot Examiner Medical Rule

Getting into the New Year garage cleanup spirit, the FAA has amended its Part 61 flight training rule, finalized in 2009, with some needed clarifications and corrections.

photo courtesy Aviation Advertiser

The stated purpose is to "revise the training, qualification, certification, and operating requirements for pilots, flight instructors, ground instructors, and pilot schools."
The primary change as it relates to our corner of the aviation universe: Flight examiners giving the checkride for the Sport Pilot ticket do not need a medical certificate as long as they have a U.S. driver's license: i.e. the same self-certification of competence to fly requirement that governs the Sport Pilot license qualification.

Outrage at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year contest

This year the prestigious and widely-viewed BBC Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY) has hit rock bottom in terms of equality. Of the 10 nominees on the list there are no women, yes that’s right ZERO women. How can this be? The BBC claim they have no part in the decision which is made (apparently) by prominent newspaper and magazine editors. I suppose this demonstrates how widespread the level of sexism is in sport. And yet we are nearly at the end of 2011…how can this still be happening?!

SPOTY began in 1954 and since then there have been 12 women winners. You don’t need good maths skills to figure out that that means lots more men have won the trophy than women. But that’s not the central issue because it’s a popularity contest on the night, judged by the British public. The main problem is when not a single sportswoman appears on the list of 10 contenders. Over the past few years there have been at least one or two women nominated, but to have 10 men and no women is an insult to all the fantastic female athletes we have in this country. Chrissie Wellington is an obvious choice – four-time World Ironman champion (and someone who should really have been nominated years ago), Helen Jenkins - current ITU triathlon World champion, Emma Pooley - bronze medallist in World road TT and 2^nd overall in the women’s Giro d’Italia, Victoria Pendleton – European team sprint champion, Beth Tweddle  - European champion in gymnastics, Helen Glover and Heather Stanning – silver medallists in World rowing champs…I could go on.

I did an interview today on BBC radio York about this very issue and the interviewer Jonathon Cowap asked me if the issue is really about the appeal of women’s sports. But women’s sport in appealing and interesting, and just as good as men’s sporting performances, but women are not given the chance to demonstrate their athleticism, strength and skill because the media mostly ignore them. Sportswomen are not taken seriously enough in this country and the BBC SPOTY contest clearly demonstrates this. What a shame, not only for the sportswomen who have produced fantastic performances this year and deserve to be recognised, but for young girls growing up who see celebrities as their role models, instead of strong female athletes. Perhaps the BBC don’t realise how damaging this type of inequality is, but when news of female obesity makes the headlines, hopefully they will see the connection. Every action has a reaction, and the Sport, Gender and Media conference organisers will keep campaigning for more gender equality in sports until it is achieved.

Can I suggest boycotting the SPOTY programme until some sort of quota system is implemented? I am very interested to hear people's suggestions and reactions to this news.

Men's Only List: BBC Sport Personality 2011 Top Ten

Many of you may have noticed the uproar last night and today against the Sport Personality 2011 Top Ten list. While we'll follow this post shortly with a more detailed response, we wanted everyone to listen to Amy Pressland, co-organizer of the Sport, Gender and Media conference, as she took to the airwaves at BBC Radio York. Listen to today's show, 29th November, and jump ahead to 2:38:00 for her comments.

A disappointed Sport, Gender and Media organizing team.

Meet the Conference Team!

Amy Pressland

My name is Amy Pressland. I am one of the Sport, Gender and Media conference (10^th March 2012) organisers. I am currently in the final year of my PhD at the Centre for Women’s Studies (CWS) at the University of York. My research focuses on the representation of sports/women in British contemporary middle-brow print media. My personal interest in the media coverage and representation of sportswomen stems from feeling frustrated at the lack of reporting by national newspapers on female elite athletes. I am an athlete myself; I compete in long-distance swimming races and triathlons. I have always been an active person and was part of most of the team sports at school. I believe sport is a fantastic activity through which participants can learn more about themselves, how to treat others, and improve their health and wellbeing.

I came up with the idea for the Sport, Gender and Media conference, partly influenced by my own research, and partly with an aim to provide a platform to widen participants’ knowledge of the key irsues within the study of sport, gender and media and inspire further investigations. My fantastic co-organiser, Geneva Murray, also studies gender and sport at CWS and is passionate about creating a ‘space’ where scholars and students alike can discuss and share ideas around this topic. We feel that opening up a dialogue on sport, gender and media is particularly relevant because of the proximity to the London Olympic Games in 2012.

M. Geneva Murray

I am thrilled that the Centre for Women’s Studies at the University of York is hosting a Sport, Gender and Media conference, and that I get to be involved in the co-organization of it. I am nearing completion of my PhD at York and I am still as much in love with my topic today as I was when I chose it. Utilizing theories on the institution of heterosexuality, I conducted a qualitative study on all-female roller derby which evaluated the way in which derby aligns with or challenges heteronormativity. I formerly played roller derby with the Leeds Roller Dolls as Toxic Pink Stuff, and currently help train York’s new roller derby team.

I think Amy Pressland said it all in explaining why this Conference is important! I hope to meet all of our readers on 10 March 2012! In the meantime, enjoy the blog.

Natalie Stokes

I’m excited to be part of the conference because sport plays a major role in my life.  I think sport has the potential to empower and challenge people to achieve and experience life in ways they never thought possible!  En route to practicing medicine, I am obtaining an MA degree in Gender, Violence and Conflict at the University of York as a Fulbright Scholar from the US.  I enjoy nothing more than a good sweat before the sun rises!  I love challenging myself through powerlifting, rock climbing, and mountain biking – among other things. 

Abigail Tazzyman

I am a first year PhD student in the Centre for Women’s Studies at the University of York. My research focuses upon female cultures of body management; that is the methods utilised by women to alter their physical appearance. This will entail consideration of woman’s negotiation of their physical body and personal body image with their enactment of alteration and the physical body image they aim to achieve through this. I have had personally an on-going relationship with sport from a young age, once an avid swimmer I now climb, hike and mountain bike. This conference is important to me on several levels; my own personal relationship to sport, my interests in female body image and the presentation of the female body, combined with sport still being (at both amateur and a professional level) a deeply gender divided arena. The conference thus represents for me a forum where issues which I hold as important can be discussed, debated and challenged.

Nicole Zarafonetis

I am currently in my first year of her PhD at the University of York at the Centre for Women’s Studies. Originally from the US, I enjoy a variety of sport, particularly swimming and softball. When I'm not advocating for gender justice, I like to spend my spare time working out at the gym.

Evangeline Tsao

I am currently in my first year of a PhD in the Centre for Women's Studies. I am passionate in photography and I am glad to have an opportunity to capture the wonderful moments of this conference. I am not good at sports myself, but I do enjoy swimming and biking for leisure. Occasionally I try new things, and I finally did my first rock-climbing this April at Sheffield - with some screaming and swearing in the process, and feeling absolutely great afterwards. I personally hope that this conference can give me more confidence in doing sports and hopefully I will start to like running, or have a chance to challenge myself with other sports that I have never done before. I suppose carrying a huge camera and running around can be considered as some kind of ... exercise.



Amy and Geneva are delighted with the support they’ve gotten from the Centre for Women’s Studies and their fellow students. This is not an exhaustive list of the support team, and more names may be added, but you will be hearing from all of the above on the blog and in various online campaigns.

MU bungkam Chelsea 3-1

Senin, 19 September 2011 08:29

 
Jakarta - Manchester United membungkam tamunya yang juga musuh bebuyutannya Chelsea, pada big match yang berlangsung di Old Trafford, MInggu malam ini, dengan skor besar 3-1.

Chris Smalling langsung menghentak di awal pertandingan setelah membawa MU unggul 1-0 di menit 8. Sekitar 30 menit kemudian, Nani menggandakan keunggulan United menjadi 2-0.

Chelsea makin tersudut setelah Wayne Rooney mengkreasi gol ketiga MU di menit 45. Baru satu menit kemudian Fernando Torres memperkecil keunggulan MU menjadi 3-1.

MU hampir saja memperbesar skor jika saja penalti Rooney di menit 57 bisa merobek jala gawang Chelsea yang dijaga Petr Cech.

Dengan kemenangan besar ini, MU memantapkan posisi di teratas klasemen sementara Liga Inggris,
dibayang-bayangi Manchester City yang malam ini hanya mampu bermain imbang melawan Fulham.

Fulham berhasil menahan Manchester City yang sudah unggul 2-0 lewat kontribusi Sergio Aguero.

Fulham tidak menyerah dan dua gol dari Bobby Zamora dan Danny Murphy memupus peluang City untuk meraih tiga poin guna memantapkan posisinya di puncak klasemen.

Di pertandingan lain, Sunderland menyusul langkah fantastik Tottenham Hotspur yang menang besar 4-0 atas Liverpool, dengan membenamkan tamunya Stoke City juga dengan skor 4-0.

Sunderland sudah unggul di menit lima dari tendangan Titus Bramble. Menit 11, Black Cats menggandakan gol dari sundulan Jonathan Woodgate.

Berikutnya, Craig Gardner dan Sebastian Larsson memantapkan kemenangan 4-0 Sunderland atas Stoke City.

Ferguson Damprat Putri Dalglish

Jumat, 16 September 2011 | 07:56

MANCHESTER - Permusuhan antara Manajer Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson, dengan Kenny Dalglish (Manajer Liverpool) bisa mengarah ke pribadi. Pasalnya, Ferguson mendamprat putri Dalglish saat sesi wawancara.

Insiden ini terjadi seusai pertandingan Manchester United lawan Benfica di Liga Champions yang berakhir 1-1, Rabu atau Kamis (15/9/2011). Ferguson tampak bersikap ketus saat
diwawancara Kelly Cates yang juga putri Kenny Dalglish. Cates merupakan reporter dari ITV.

Cates saat itu menanyakan apakah tentang situasi penjaga gawang MU. Pada partai lawan Benfica, Ferguson menurunkan kiper Anders Lendegaard yang ternyata tampil mengesankan. Sementara kiper utama David De Gea justru dicadangkan.

Ditanya soal kiper, Ferguson langsung menunjukkan kemarahannya kepada Cates. Cates menanyakan  apakah permainan bagus Lendegaard akan membuatnya dalam dilema dalam memilih kiper.

Ferguson lalu langsung menjawab, "Tidak sama sekali. David (De Gea) akan bermain pada Minggu ini. Itu pengertian yang sudah kami buat sebelum pertandingan ini (lawan Benfica) dan tak akan berubah."

Sebelum Cates mengajukan pertanyaan berikutnya, Ferguson semakin marah dan mengatakan, "Saya tak tahu kenapa kamu menanyakan hal ini. Kamu hanya mencari hal-hal bodoh!"

Cates tampak tersinggung dan terpukul. Kemarahan Ferguson kepada Cates itu bisa membuat Manajer Liverpool yang juga ayah Cates, Kenny Dalglish, ikut tersinggung.

MU akan bertemu dengan Liverpool pada 15 Oktober di Stadion Anfield.

Dre@ming Post______

Sebring EXPO: 2.5 Perfect Days

I am ready to commit homicide on the wireless in this place I'm sending - or attempting to send - from.  More later, as I start for the third time in three days to get a single blogpost to upload after hours of working on it!  Computers!  A pox on all of them.

I'm posting this now without pictures.  If the *&$% thing will stay connected long enough to update the post with pics, I will...assuming it will even publish this!
Okay, on to the good stuff.
Sebring is alive and well and gliding along better than ever.  More than I can say for the wireless where I've tried to post since Thursday night, so today (Sat), you get two point five posts for the price of one.
First bit of news: Opening day Thursday was the best attended in the show’s eight year history (not five years as I doofishly reported the other day).  Aiding and abetting: beautiful, absolutely beautiful weather.  No hurricanes, no clouds of leaflets from Republican Presidential hopefuls, just a lavishly enjoyable (for us snowbirds at least) 70 degrees, with a steady 10 knot wind a good part of the day, followed by a crisp, clear night.  Thank the Maker.

Your humble and now very frustrated blogster took full advantage of opening day by spending almost half of it shooting and flying the new BRM Bristell S-LSA (yes, it’s ASTMified).  A very, very sweet ship.  Think second generation Piper Sport nee SportCruiser, since the low-wing monoplane bears a design familiarity of clean, attractive lines and is, if not a sibling, certainly a cousin to that seminal Czech design.
Bristell designer Milan Bristela is here at the show with John Calla to give the airplane some street cred.  Milan co-designed the original SportCruiser and is full designer of this new airplane.  Clearly he’s incorporated many things we’ve all learned along the way, including about the roomiest low-wing cockpit, at 51", I’ve had the pleasure to fly.
That’s just frosting on the cake, though: if the SportCruiser/Piper Sport is a light, playful airplane that lands itself, rolls around the sky with enjoyable and docile characteristics, the Bristell really feels like a GA airplane.  All three axes are beautifully harmonized, the stick feel and responsiveness are both muted and lively.  I mean it’s neither twitchy like a spring colt nor sluggish like a one-track dray horse, but both smooth and firm in control handling, and wonderfully quick to jump to your commands.
Many thoughtful features like a painted sun screen built into the canopy top, 600 lb. useful load, lovely aerodynamics, 1000+ fpm climb, sturdy, sturdy tricycle gear, outsized GA-robust landing gear with Goodyear tires, very lively nosewheel steering (a little too twitchy, but as my endlessly energetic demo host, former C-130 Special Ops driver John Rathwell was quick to tell me, a simple tweak is in the works for that), and all in all, quite an airplane.

European LAMA board member Jan Fridrich catches our low photo pass at Sebring.  Thanks Jan!  Nobody ever shoots the photographer!

I’ll properly flesh out my positive impressions when I write the pilot report.  For now let’s say this creation of Mr. Bristela is a solid, mature, sophisticated design with many fine details, it’s very comfortable, most certainly enjoyable to fly, and beautifully finished inside and out.
Alright, that’s way too much for an airplane blog post so let’s move on:

FK12 Comet folds its wings.

I spent a very interesting hour with Roger Crow, a 35-year Air National Guard fighter pilot and law enforcement aviator who briefed me on how his Echo Flight Resources company out of Tulsa has transmogrified a Flight Design CTLE into an aerial surveillance platform, complete with a highly sophisticated aerial video ball turret camera that’s controlled by a John Law techie in the right seat in pursuit of people doing bad things.  I’m hoping to do a story on it for the magazine: a fascinating look into how useful LSA are at dramatically cutting costs without compromising performance one bit over similarly equipped Cessna 172s and 182s, and helicopters, which cost a whole lot more to operate than a CTLS.  He’s winning over converts with law enforcement orgs across the country, because he’s one of a small club and speaks the lingo.

Randy Lervold showing how it's done.

At the annual LAMA dinner Thursday night, it’s prez Dan Johnson and his lovely wife Randee along with a host of sponsors and volunteers and new Sebring fearless leader Jana Filip put on an excellent feed, a raffle of prizes, and a presentation by EAA’s new President, Rod Hightower, followed by an excellent video short from EAA’s superb video department.

Day for night

Friday, although no official numbers were in as I dragged myself off to dinner and to rescue my newly arrived roommate, P&P publisher Mike McMann, from being GPS-lost in the crocodile-infested badlands east of Sebring, looked to be another record day.  Lots of folks walking around, kicking tires, taking demo rides throughout yet another gorgeous day.
Highlights for Friday included catching up with Charles Stites of Able Flight, that wonderful organization that underwrites, with four types of scholarships, the flying dreams of disabled people.  Seven more dedicated and determined people, including a deaf woman and a multiple combat amputee successfully negotiated Sport Pilot training to defy the odds.

Roger Crow's CTLE

As I told Charles after the update, I always feel better after talking with him.
Another guy who always lifts my spirits is Boris Popov, founder of BRS parachutes.  Boris and I go back more decades than either of us care to acknowledge, when I first began extolling the virtues of the ballistic ‘chute concept he successfully brought to market.
How good would you feel to wake up every morning and know something you created had incontestably saved hundreds of lives over the years.  Yeah.  Way cool.

Sebring Expo showgrounds above the CarbonCub SS

By the way, forgot to mention feel-good band Ravi performed for the exhibitor’s reception Wednesday night and also at the LAMA dinner.  The band’s namesake Ravi tours the world performing original songs, conducting clinics and lecturing on crucial issues facing the music and aviation industries – two groups you don’t often see conflated.  A talented and engaging young pilot/musician, you can find out more at www.theRaviator.com.

And th-th-that’s all folks.

The twin brothers Hansen and the twin brothers Hansen (one father’s sons are also twins) of Hansen Air Group demonstrated changing the cockpits on the sexy FK12 Comet from a single canopy to two-holer and also folding the wings, all in about five minutes.  Hansens the younger performed the operation as the elder sibs “supervised”.

I’ll be flying the Comet tomorrow for a future report.  What a very cool bipe indeed.
Finally, because it’s bed time for yours truly, Randy Lervold of Cubcrafters and his superb pilot Clay (didn’t get his last name) helped me get an air2air session with their wildly popular Carbon Cub SS.  The light couldn’t have been better, and ditto goes for the formation skills of both pilots.  Every formation shoot ought to go this well.
Here’s a sample, judge for yourself.
Tomorrow, looking forward to shooting my old friend the Flight Design CTLS, thanks to another old friend Tom Peghiny.  The CT sports a new dual-panel SkyView deck.  Managing Director of the successful European company, Matthias Betch, is in town for the show.

Should female boxers be required to wear skirts?

This week, the Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA) is meeting,
and will be discussing many important issues leading up to the London 2012
Olympics - the first Olympics in which women's boxing will be featured as a
sport.  Chief among the topics for discussion: should the female boxers be
required to wear skirts?


Seriously.


At a time in which the sport of women's boxing is taking a large step
forward into the spotlight, the AIBA has taking the focus off of the sport
and the achievements of the athletes and honed in on the maintenance of
traditional gender roles.


Athletics are traditionally a masculine stomping ground, and thus
incompatible with constructed ideals of femininity.  As more opportunities
for women in sports becoming available, many female athletes are pressed to
navigate their identity to balance their athleticism and femininity.
Women's sports are still in large part neglected by the popular media, and
when featured, the athletes are often subject to sexualized and
objectifying language.


Perhaps the AIBA believes that feminizing the athletes will help to
popularize the sport of women's boxing, among the more masculine sports in
character?  [In the same way sports teams have made it 'ok' for women to be
avid fans-and buy tickets and merchandise-so long as they buy the pink
colored team jersey].  Even if this is being done in the interest of
attracting a greater fan base, it does a great disservice to the athletes
who will be competing in these historic Olympics games by taking the focus
away from athletic feat.


As British boxer Marianne Marston aptly stated, "I feel I have more
important issues to deal with in women's boxing, the acceptance of women's
boxing...than whether they should wear skirts or not."

CubCrafters Delivers #200

Savvy companies find a way through even the worst of economic times.
Case in point: CubCrafters has just delivered its 200th LSA.
The Yakima, Washington-based LSA maker thus secures bragging rights, at least for now, for being the top US-made producer of ASTM-certified Light Sport Aircraft, eclipsing its Cub clone rival American Legend out of Texas, which has led the pack for some time.

Photo courtesy CubCrafters

 Coming just a couple days before Sebring's US Sport Aviation Expo kickoff on Thursday, the news should be welcome to industry watchers and potential buyers eager for a cheerier outlook.
The company offers two Cubalikes: the Sport Cub S2 (100hp) and the Carbon Cub SS (180hp, and what a climbout monster it is!)
The company started up in 1980 and recently added 15,000 square feet of space to its manufacturing facility.
And yes, they are a-hirin'.
Keep up the good work, you guys!

SEBRING EXPO Kicks Off Next Week!

The show I look forward to the most every winter is the Sebring U.S. Sport Aviation Expo, the premier gathering of Light Sport industry vendors in America.
This is the fifth go round for the expo; each year it offers more pure fun for LSA pilots present and future.
This year sports a noticeably upscale look, with new management (show founder Robert Woods remains very active in the show) and a stronger promotional flavor.
Major sponsors this year include our own Plane&Pilot!
The four-day gathering, which kicks off next Thursday, Jan. 19, promises to be the biggest show yet. 
Lots of return and new LSA exhibitors, display booths with the latest hot gear, and symposiums, including the new Bristell low wing monoplane and Pipistrel Sinus 50-foot span motorglider, both of which I hope to fly for future reports.

The new Bristell will be at Expo next week.  Photo courtesy BristellUSA

Avionics leader Dynon will hold full on classes to teach the many ins and outs of its powerhouse SkyView EFIS display... for free!

Dynon's SkyView

 EAA's new head honcho Rod Hightower will speak at the annual LAMA dinner Thursday night.

EAA's Rod Hightower to speak

There's a ton more things to talk about, check it out right here for all the details.
If you've got a hankering for early Spring- style LSA tire-kickin' and demo flying, program Sebring into your GPS and get on down thar!

Does drug-testing make a sport less cool?

An interesting article was published in The Guardian this morning about surfing and the introduction of pre-competition drug-testing at professional events. In 'A natural high?' Patrick Kingsley asks whether these changes are welcomed by the surfing community, if they are necessary and whether it will take surfing from being an 'alternative/minority' sport into the mainstream and consequently lose its 'cool factor'.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jan/04/surfing-drug-test-credibility

But can drug-testing really transform a sport and take it into the mainstream in the UK alongside sports such as football and rugby? It depends how you classify sports; are we talking about spectatorship or participation? Image or consumption? And under what circumstances would drug-testing not be useful for both event organisers (to ensure clean competitiors) and surfers themselves (for safety reasons in an already demanding and sometimes dangerous sport)?

Drug-testing has done much to improve the image of road cycling in Europe where performance-enhancing drugs were rumoured to be rife amongst all professional teams in the 80s and 90s. Nowadays, with a cleaner image, the sport is taken more seriously and given the credit it deserves.

One key issue with drug-testing, in my opinion, is not how they test or for what, but it's the consequences: there is no singular ruling across all sports for those guilty of taking drugs. In British athletics, an athlete who is found to dope recieves a lifetime ban from all Olympic Games participation. Whereas in other countries, such as Russia and the USA, athletes recieve a shorter 'sentence'.

I think this sends out the wrong message and is unfair to athletes and the spectating public. All athletes who dope or take drugs should be treated the same and banned from sport, full stop. This is a contentious issue however, and it would great to hear other people's opinions on the topic of doping.

As far as surfing is concerned, I doubt the introduction of drug-testing will result in the sport's transformation. Surfers are athletes, but they have a 'cool' image, which proving their drug-free states, will not alter.

Distinguishing the individual and the athlete: cheerleading, sexual assault and drink-driving

A recent news story highlights the case of a 16 year old cheerleader who refused to chant the name of a player who had previously sexually assaulted her, and was subsequently expelled from the squad for doing so. After attempting to bring a compensatory claim against her school which failed, she was ordered to pay $45,000 in costs.

The court ruled:

"As a cheerleader, HS served as a mouthpiece through which [the school district] could disseminate speech – namely, support for its athletic teams. This act constituted substantial interference with the work of the school because, as a cheerleader, HS was at the basketball game for the purpose of cheering, a position she undertook voluntarily."

I'm not sure of the credibility of this story as I have no background knowledge on it but one of the most interesting aspects is the distinction between the role and responsibilities of being an athlete (if one can call cheerleading a sport) and the rights one has as a free individual.

On a similar note, Danny Care has been dropped from the England rugby team for being found guilty of drink-driving after a New Year's party. This again highlights the ambiguous distinction between a private and public life and the rights and responsibilities that come with each. Care was not on duty with the England team at the time and the matter was rightly dealt with by the police and law courts. However, the act was seen to be justification for his dismissal from national selection.

These stories provide us with a couple of interesting philosophical questions:

To what extent is one a free individual in sport?

What bearing should decisions made in one's private life have on one's public sporting life?

New Tecnam Float Plane; Impossible Turn 2

A couple fun things before I lose the day entirely.

Floats always add sex appeal to land planes, don't they?  photo courtesy Tecnam

Just got word from Tecnam today, via our publisher Mike McMann, that the Italian aircraft producer has adapted one of my favorite LSA, the P92 Echo and Eaglet (trainer version), for water operations.  
Dubbed the P92 Sea-Sky Hydroplane, this waterbird should prove to be yet another fun entry into the SLSA sweepstakes.  
My impression of the Eaglet remains: a lively, forgiving, fun-to-fly all metal trainer that I expect will appeal even more with web feet, for those of aquatic inclinations.
Some details: 
The Hydroplane is the 6th generation model of the successful P92.
Takeoff run is spec'd at under 200 meters, along with "an impressive climb rate" from its 100 hp Rotax engine. And I wonder how the Eaglet's landing performance, for example (26 kts., full flaps, no power) will translate to the water and extra weight.
The Hydro will be produced at Tecnam’s new composites production facility, home to both the Tecnam P2008 and Tecnam P2010 four-seat GA up-and-comer, in Capua, Italy.
There's nothing much online about it yet; I'm hoping it will make it to Sebring mid-month, or Sun 'n Fun in April.

Jim Lee finishing the NASA speed run.  photo courtesy NASA.

Gliders and the Impossible Turn
Also just heard from friend and soaring pilot/instructor/longwing trendsetter Jim Lee, last heard from when he flew the only conventionally-powered aircraft in the NASA Green Flight Challenge last fall that won Pipistrel's Taurus Electro G4 a cool $1.35 million prize.
Jim acquitted himself admirably with the Phoenix motorglider at that event.
He dropped me an e-note to add his glider-centric take on my Impossible Turn post here of a couple days ago.
Take it away James:

"For one, in any aircraft, don't follow the centerline of the runway (after) take off unless required by parallel runways or tower ops.  Veer downwind of the runway on climb out, then if the engine quits, you only have to make a 180, not a 270.  

Pretty Phoenix.  photo courtesy Jim Lee

Glider pilots are required to practice, and perform on the checkride, a turn back to the runway from 200'.  It is easy in a glider.  I can do 100', and I have seen 50' done in a real emergency when the towplane flew into a hangar.  500' is easy in a small Cessna with practice. [Even] 400' is easy, and 300' is doable in an LSA with practice."
Jim heads up PhoenixUSA out of Melbourne, Florida.  I've flown and reported on the Phoenix and it is one wonderful all-around dreamship.

Guest Blog on the Fword by Geneva Murray

Our very own Geneva Murray, co-organiser of the Sport, Gender and Media conference was kindly invited by the fword to write a guest blog in the aftermath of the BBC SPOTY competition in December last year. You may have missed it in the run-up to the festive period but here's the link so you can enjoy her article:

http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/2011/12/sportswomen_of_4

Happy New Year to all Sport, Gender and Media fans!

Happy New Year to all! Now that we are in 2012 we can start to count down the weeks until the Sport, Gender and Media conference at the University of York on 10th March THIS YEAR!

We hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing Christmas break. Over the holidays we have been reviewing all the abstracts that were submitted and we are currently putting together a programme. There will be some fantastic papers and we look forward to sharing the programme with you all towards the end of January.

But in the meantime, enjoy the blog and register your attendance at the conference! You can now register and pay ONLINE - check out the link below and on the right-hand side of the blog.

http://store.york.ac.uk/browse/extra_info.asp?modid=1&prodid=1013&deptid=161&compid=1&prodvarid=0&catid=262

Best wishes for 2012,
Sport, Gender and Media conference team!